


Fury

by Emsalee



Series: Fate Thy Name is Gabriel [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Australia, F/M, FTNiG Series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-09 15:24:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/775768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emsalee/pseuds/Emsalee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To the rest of the world, Emily and Courtney are twins that move a lot. In reality, they are of a family that is so much more. Their story and that of the Winchesters has danced along the lines of fate, only barely touching. Until now. The Lichtenbergs and the Winchesters must work together to stop Lucifer from fulfilling a very personal act of revenge. Can they defeat Lucifer before they lose much more than their lives?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Dude, seriously?" Dean complained as he slammed the door of the Impala shut. "You honestly want me to spend a whole 22 hours on a plane? That's not including the return flight."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Dean, we've already paid for our tickets. You don't want all of your hard-earned cash to go to waste, do you?" Teasing and exasperation laced his tone in equal amounts. "Imagine how many more credit card scams and poker games you'd have to do to earn it all back.”

Deans shoulders slumped in defeat. "Really? You know the real bitch of the deal is that we have to leave my baby behind," He ran his hand over the sleek black paint job of his '67 Chevrolet Impala. "Is there any way that we could bring her over?"

"You know there isn't. It would take way too long and we need to jump on this lead on Lucifer before it goes cold. Besides, the flight's not all in one go. It splits into two separate flights and you get a break in between." Sam tried being optimistic in a last ditch effort to persuade his brother.

"Oh, great!" Dean replied with fake enthusiasm. "A whole one hour and fifteen minutes - don't look at me like that, I did the math - to sit around like a girl and do my nails. You know what, Sam? Lucifer can burn Australia for all I care. It's only a huge desert in the middle of the ocean. Are there any people that actually live there?”

Dean would say that he positively did _not_ have panic attacks, but the shaking mess in front of Sam, otherwise known as his brother, said otherwise. "You know what? You need to stop, take a few deep breaths and calm down. In. Out. In and out." He guided Dean through his breathing. "Think about it; because you're scared of getting onto a perfectly safe plane, over 22 million people could be killed in a snap of Lucifer's fingers. How would that feel compared to getting on plane for a few hours?" Sam paused to send a meaningful look at his brother. If he only learned one thing over the years, it was that Dean had a pathological need to save people. "So suck up, don't think about it and do the job, alright? Go to sleep on the plane, man, you could use a couple more hours."

When Sam had finished his mini speech, Dean had the sense to look abashed but fortunately had a lot more colour in his cheeks. Admitting his defeat, he brushed past his brother to grab his duffle bag from the rear seat of the Impala.

Grumbling to his brother he declared to himself, "Australia better have some bloody good pie."

\--  
  
The brothers strode through the entrance to Los Angeles' LAX airport at 7:35am on the dot. Dean was still suffering embarrassment from the mini panic attack Sam had knocked him out of earlier, so all he could do was complain and bitch – "I don't _bitch_ , Samantha." "Uhuh, you keep telling yourself that." – at everyone and everything they came in contact with.

"I just don't get it, Sammy," Dean bemoaned to his brother. "Why do we have to be here a whole two hours before our flight even takes off?"

Sam released a very slow breath. "I've already told you once. We have to give ourselves enough time to check in, pass through security and then to get to our gate and board."

"Security?" Dean repeated his brother as if he hadn't heard him right, paling at the mere recollection. "I totally forgot about them."

Once again, Sam sighed in frustration. "Of course there are security, you-" He closed his eyes. "Did you think that people just walked onto planes whenever and to wherever their hearts desire?"

Dean ignored his brother and sauntered over to the flight display board. He double checked the flight times and looked at his watch again. A whole three minutes had passed since he had last checked. Huffing to himself, Dean glanced around the seating area at the other bleary-eyed passengers. He found it highly amusing that people could sleep for so long and still appear to be tired, when he himself got on average around three to four hours of sleep a week and was alert and wide awake.

A small chuckle escaped Dean, earning him another disapproving glance from his younger brother. Rolling his eyes, Dean pointed in the direction of security and the brothers walked towards it.

Dean whispered to his baby brother. "Sam? Have we got enough weapons? Salt? Holy Water? What happens if another demon possesses some poor bastard and tries to bring down the plane again? We would be dead before we could do anything about it. All-"

The younger Winchester cut his brother off, trying to stop him from getting too hysterical. "Remember to breathe, okay?" After a nod, he continued. "The likelihood of that happening again is very low. If it makes you feel better, we'll make sure to scan everyone that boards the plane for EMF."

Dean cast a mock glare up at his brother. "Stop treating me as if I'm two."

"Stop acting like you are.”

The brothers glared at each other until Sam finally looked away. Dean pumped his fist in victory and Sam shook his head at his childish antics, but grinned all the same.

"Remember, the security checkpoint is just over here," Sam said as he ushered Dean toward it, eager for the long flight to be over already.

Dean and Sam easily made their way through the throng of passengers and security, and made it to their terminal. Dean collapsed onto a seat and muttered to himself about planes being too much of a hassle as Sam walked over to the large, wall sized window that looked out on the blacktop. Glancing out at the planes creeping along the tarmac, Sam examined them closely for any tampering that he could detect with his moderately untrained eye. After finding no physical threat that he could identify, he patted his pockets in reassurance that his canister of holy water was still there. _'Better safe than sorry'_ was practically a hunter's motto.

One of the flight attendants for their trip stepped up to the check-in and passengers surged forward, eager to either begin their journey or end it. Sam jerked Dean's jacket in a signal for him to get up receiving a grunt in response before shoving his brother aside. Strutting up to the flight attendant, Dean held his head high, trying to appear more confident than he actually felt. He handed over his passport with a flirty grin which elicited a wink from the blonde woman.

After Sam managed to drag his hopeless brother away from the prospect of a new conquest, the Mile High Club, the Winchester brothers weaved their way through the masses of fellow passengers. They had already deposited their bags and were scrupulously, yet surreptitiously, checking everyone for possible demon possession. "Sammy? You got anything?"

Sam gave the crowd another once over and tried to remember coming across any suspicious characters. "No, looks like we're in the all clear."

The tension that had set up camp in Dean's shoulders appeared to dissipate slightly. "Good."

Sam clapped his brother on the back and nodded towards the terminal where the plane was preparing for embarkment. "We're about to board. We should head over."

Dean had to double check his watch. It didn't seem that he had been waiting for over an hour and was nearing on quarter to nine. "Sweet. Hey, you know what they say, _'time flies when you're having fun.'"_

The look that Dean received from his brother betrayed his amusement at the pun and they made their way through the overly eager crowd.

Dean being Dean caught the same blonde airhostess' eye and managed to slip to the front of the queue. Sam inwardly cursed his brother's antics once more, though succeeded in forming an acceptably polite smile that some women would deem adorable. His brother almost literally charmed the panties off the twenty-something, landing a phone number with the instruction to "call _anytime."_

With a salacious smirk on Dean's behalf, the brothers ambled onto the plane and claimed their rear seats. Being inside the treacherous plane brought back any misgivings Dean had about flying. Muttering continuously about the 'flying tin can' and a how it was a 'dangerous hunk of metal', the elder hunter fidgeted in his seat, completely frustrating his brother.

"Okay, Dean? I understand you're terrified of flying, but we are trying to lay low." Sam looked intently into his brother's eyes. "So if I have to lay you out so that I, and everyone else on here, can travel in peace, I will."

The sheer honesty in Sam's face conveyed with the statement was enough to shut Dean up, even through take off.

\--

Sam and Dean Winchester touched down in Sydney, Australia with their Los Angeles set watches saying 11:25pm. The afternoon rays of sun that bounced off the shiny glass of Sam's window, quickly set his mind off into the world of time zones and mathematical equations. He twisted the dial on his watch to say 4:25pm sheer seconds before the pilot announced the local weather and time.

Dean, having seen his brother alter his watch's configuration, implored him. "C'mon Sammy, we'll only have to change it again when we end up in another state. Stop being a show off with your geek-fu."

Sam directed a condescending look at him. "Do you want us to miss our connecting flight?"

Over exaggerated concentration crossed over Deans face as he paused to think about it. “Hmm.. That might not be a good idea. I mean, who would want to miss out on all of the nothingness of Western Australia? The barren desert sure is a number one tourist hot spot."

Rubbing his palms across his face, Sam heaved a sigh. He really didn't like extensive travelling with his brother. Joyriding across America was one thing as Dean had his baby to keep him company, but flying internationally in a plane left Dean highly strung with only his little brother to occupy him. He shook his head and managed to remind himself that the worst of the travelling was over.

"We've got an hour to amuse ourselves before our next flight. Let's go get a coffee or some Advil or something."

Dean's face perked up at the mention of caffeine and rushed off to get his bags. Sam rolled his eyes heavenward and wished that Castiel could have just popped them where they needed to be.

The two of them filled out all of their necessary forms and meandered out of Perth Domestic Airport at 7:45pm Western Australian time and looked for their rental car. The orange lampposts lining the roads cast a dull glow on the cement, while the harsh, artificial light glared out from the building they had exited. A sign ahead pointed to separate parking zones and designated rental areas, easing the confusion of the American 'tourists'.

"We need to be over there." Sam pointed to a relatively close car park with a variety of rentals.

Dean grinned. "What are we waiting for?"

After perusing the lot and finding their allocated car, Dean groaned and dropped his head to the sleek silver exterior. "Why do I have to even touch this?"

"Would you rather walk?"

"Yes." Dean eyeballed the vehicle as if had an infectious disease.

Sam smirked. “Good. Get in.”

The shorter hunter reluctantly slid behind the wheel, after he had attempted to climb into the wrong side of the car, and fingered his forged international driver's licence gingerly. He'd never actually driven on the opposite side of the road before, but he was positive that it was exactly the same, only ass about; his same views on the entire country.

He turned over the ignition and turned to his brother. "Are we crashing in this city tonight or are we rolling on through to the middle of nowhere?"

"Straight on through. The sooner we get there the better."

Dean drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "We need directions, Mr. Navigator."

"I thought you never needed directions?" The smug tone radiated louder than the actual words.

The driver's face darkened. "I'm not exactly cruising on down the good old American back roads, now am I? I'm in a completely different country, if you failed to notice."

"Watch out there, Deanna. I can sense your panties getting in a bunch." Sam smirked as he tried and failed to recall his already Googled directions. The geek brother fingered his mobile longingly, but grabbed a folder out of the duffle at his feet. The crisp, printed instructions in his lap, Sam pointed his brother in the right direction and they tentatively headed onto the foreign roads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okie dokie folks. Hi there and welcome to the first installment of the 'Fate Thy Name is Gabriel' series. Technically. I wrote 'Mud Cake and Cookies' well after I planned out these major fics.
> 
>  
> 
> NOTES! Here we go:
> 
> \- Obviously this is set at some point in Season 5, some time after Abandon All Hope we think.  
> \- Dean is 29 and Sam is 25. We had to rejig their ages around a bit so in Season 1 they would be about 24 and 20. To us, that still sounds reasonable.  
> \- A lot of the places in this story are real locations. The names are different so as to add a modicum of story fairy dust. If you were desperate, you could find out the real names.  
> \- This story is actually co-authored. I shall henceforth call my co-author CLM so you know who I'm talking about.


	2. Chapter 2

The pitch-black roads paved their way through the barren Western Australian landscape. The flat plains hardly varied and every bend in the road seemed to add another five minutes to the trip. The simple rental car handled these mind-numbing roads with a graceful ease, though most cars did. The brothers, struggling to stay awake through the night of jet-lag related exhaustion and no decent radio stations, had to provide their own entertainment. They, meaning Dean, had fallen into mocking the stereotypes of the nation.

Dean tried on his Aussie twang. "G'day, mate!"

His brother shook his head. "Did you even listen to any of the employees at the airport?" He looked at his brother to see a sly smile. "Of course you didn't. There were mostly women with huge chests."

Dean bit out an undignified, "What?"

"You are hopeless, you know that?"

With a huff, Dean directed his gaze back to the snake of a road. "You think you're so great, you try it out."

Sam shook his head once more and to appease his brother, pulled out some 'internationally recognised' Australian slang. "Let's throw a shrimp on the barbie."

His older brother heaved an exasperated sigh of his own. "You have to use the accent."

"They don't _have_ that accent." Sam sent a withering glare in his brother's direction.

"Of course they do. Haven't you watched any movies?"

"It's a misconception forged through the iconic status of people like Steve Irwin." Sam felt a tension headache building and massaged his temples. "You know what? How about silence until we stop at a gas station? One shouldn't be that far away."

It turned out that the next stop was quite a fair bit away. Having stopped at the outskirts of Perth, the next available service station was almost at the half way point on their journey, but on the side closer to their point of origin. Sam had sent death glares at his brother every time he looked like he was going to talk and that was enough to keep the car ride silent.

When they finally rolled into their stop, a service station in 'Cataby,' the Winchesters unfolded their legs from the miniature car and stretched.

Dean grumbled as his back popped. "At least the Impala had leg room."

For once, Sam actually agreed with his brother.

Looking around at their darkened surroundings, lamp posts and inside lights illuminating only a small patch of land; they weren't greeted by the typical chittering of birds. Night brought an eerie silence to the place that was typically so happy and vibrant in the waking hours of the day. Sam meandered over to a rather large aviary and chicken yard that housed a multitude of brightly coloured native birds. He tried to imagine the atmosphere of chattering birds during the day and rather liked the produced image. Looking back at his brother, Sam saw Dean impatiently refilling the car with petrol as he glanced longingly inside the building.

Deciding to relieve his brother from the torture of being mere feet away from food, Sam walked over to the servo. "You want anything?"

"Hell yeah, that airline food does not keep you full for long." His stomach gurgled in agreement.

Dean quickly finished fueling the sad rental and chased his brother into the store, ready to devour anything in sight.

They paid for the petrol and their array of snacks, before climbing back into the Matchbox. Making sure to remember which side they entered through, Sam steered the car back onto the highway with rocks crackling under tire.

The brother in the passenger seat pulled out the directions again. He didn't want another, 'it-should-be-not-far-but-is-really-two-hours-away' scenario. Plus, he actually wanted to end up in Geraldton, not the middle of the desert.

"Do you want to go via a place called Jurien Bay or stay on the Brand Highway?" Dean traced his finger across the highlighted line of a possible route.

"Which way is faster?"

Dean's eyes flicked over to the estimated times of arrival and scanned for the shortest time. "Staying on this highway."

"And how long is that going to take?' Sam slid his tired eyes over to his brother for a moment.

The older brother's head hit the headrest. Hard. "Another two and a half hours of this invigorating road and skimpy bushes."

"Any more service stations?"

"Um," Dean looked back at his maps. "There's an 'Eneabba' - however the hell you pronounce it - about an hour out of Geraldton." He looked over at his brother. "What kind of name is ' _Eneabba''_?"

Sam took his eyes off the road again. "It must be a native name."

Dean scoffed. "Well it sounds like something we should be hunting, not somewhere people apparently live."

The driver rolled his eyes and left his brother to mumble under his breath.

A quick stop at Eneabba revealed that the town was hardly anything more than the petrol station and a sports field. The brothers spent the opportunity to stop stretching their legs and using the bathroom.

It was nearing on midnight when Sam and Dean clambered back into the car after their little break and the lack of city lights let the stars sparkle like diamonds with their natural beauty. Sam was comfortably leaning back in the passenger's seat and was dozing in the small chair, while Dean focused on the road and softly hummed Metallica to himself. The trip was nearly over and they could crash for a few hours in their motel room before investigating their lead on Lucifer.

The prospect of a - hopefully - soft bed urged Dean forward and in no time they were edging into the outskirts of Geraldton and touring past the Greenough S-Bends, a notorious stretch of road for crashes. Dean reached across to where Sam's head was lolling off the edge of the headrest and flicked his ear. Disorientated, Sam looked around for any signs of trouble.

"Whass goin' on?" His sleep slurred speech improved as he gathered his bearings.

"We're nearly here. You need to play GPS." Dean nudged the maps that had scattered across his brother's lap in his sleep.

They followed the printed map's directions until they pulled up at a quaint motel, keen for a few hours sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're still here. Fabulous! I don't have many notes for you, but here they are:
> 
> \- Unfortunately, I have had to sit through this drive plenty of times. All of the places in here are from memory with the helping hand of Google Maps.  
> \- Eneabba is prounouced ee-nee-abba and it basically is just a fuel station and a footy oval. Big woop.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam stretched before he hauled his large frame off the small bed. He had slept soundly for six hours, which was about twice as much as he usually slept, feeling rejuvenated and ready to hunt down the Devil as he strolled into the adjoining bathroom. He went through the ritual of brushing his teeth and showering before leaving the bathroom to his brother, who typically took twice as long.

Last night they had rolled into the Standley Tapper Inn at around half past one and barely made it into the room before they collapsed in a deep sleep. Being people who travel around the countryside in their ’67 Impala - with little use or money for flying - they suffered even more from the jetlag of their exceedingly long flights.

After both of the Winchester brothers had put on their federal agent suits, they sat at the small table in their room. Sam booted up his laptop, hacking into a nearby wireless internet connection, and Dean cracked open their hand written files. When the boys had gathered their stored information, they talked over the case.

“We’re absolutely sure Lucifer is in this town, of all places?” Dean questioned his brother.

Sam spun his laptop around and showed a map covered in intricate bells and whistles. “All of the signs point to the fact that he’s shown up here.” He glared at the screen. “But, the thing is… Why here? There’s nothing around this city for miles and it only has roughly forty thousand people living here. It’s not nearly a bit enough fatality count that he’d be after.”

Dean’s brow furrowed. “That means he’s after someone or something specifically.”

“I’d say someone.” Sam rummaged through the stack of folders as an idea dawned on him, coming across the one he needed and tossing it to Dean. “Before Cas vanished, he mentioned something about a school.”

The shorter hunter sifted through the sheets of paper until he found the right sheet. “Francis VanderOord High School? It’s a standard issue Catholic high.” Dean’s eyes wandered down to the school’s statistics. “Private school, caters to grades 7 through 12, 1149 students, 88 teaching staff, 44 non-teaching, co-ed with 75 more females than males.”

Sam pondered this. “If Lucifer is there, he’s got to be hiding out as a teacher and he’d have to be newly employed.”

“Let’s go take a look around and ask the kiddies some questions. They’ll know if there’s a new teacher that's creepy as hell.” Dean stood up and arranged the files into a nice pile. Beckoning to his brother to follow him, he traipsed outside and into their rental.

Sam jumped onto Google quickly and jotted down directions to the school before joining his brother in the car.

“You ready to go, Ginormo?”

“Just shut up and drive.”

\--

Dean parked the silver rental on the side of the school’s steep driveway and Sam let out a low whistle. “This is a bit different to what schools we went to, hey?”

His brother sneered at the building. “Half of the kids that graduate from here are probably headed to a convent.”

Sam cocked his head sideways and pointed at a building to the right of them. “Actually, I think that used to be one.”

Dean turned to his brother with a ‘told-you-so’ expression and continued up the tree lined driveway to the administrative building.

The administrative building was an old structure with the logo of a previous school still emblazoned in the stone above the first floor. Large white stone columns bolstered up the verandas and the centre of the façade of the building pushed through the roof in a way very much like a castle turret. The tiled roof stretched across the long-standing building, cresting in a triangle point and vanished over the far side. The whisper of the trees was only broken by the occasional shout from a multi-coloured physical education class down on one of the ovals.

Entering the office, the Winchesters were no longer immersed in the history of the building, but were absorbed by a modern clerical set up. Industrial blue-grey carpets lined the floors while paintings of the school and fliers plastered the walls. High blue table tops held an electronic sign in system which two girls were using to receive late passes. A further examination of the room revealed no actual staff to be manning the counter.

Sam stepped forward and tapped the shorter of the two girls, who were in identical uniforms with crisp white button ups and tartan green skirts, on the shoulder in an attempt to question her on the whereabouts of the secretarial staff. Instead, he was confronted with a slack jawed teenager who looked as if an international pop sensation had waltzed right into the school. She soon recovered and elbowed the other girl in the side and whispering a sharp, “Emily!”

Emily spun around a glowered down at the shorter girl. “What the hell? You know I hate it when you elbow me.”

The small teen simply fluttered her hands in the direction of the Winchesters. “Look!”

The tall girl developed a similar expression of shock, before she straightened it out much faster than her companion. “Hello there. What can I do for you?”

The Winchesters were still fairly confused about the two very odd girls in front of them as Sam picked up the conversation. “Hello. I am Samuel Cole with the Australian Federal Police and this is my partner James Hetfield.”

A dubious look crossed both of the young girls’ faces and Sam winced internally, wondering if they had picked up on the origin of Dean’s alias or his now glaringly obvious American accent, but the look was gone before he could over analyse it.

“Well, Samuel and James, my name is Emily Lichtenberg and this is my twin sister Courtney.” Sam and Dean looked the girls over and teetered over the fact that they were twins.

Obviously fraternal twins, Courtney was a foot shorter than her sister and had olive skin, while her sister was a shade of pale white that Twilight vampires would be envious of. Straight brown hair framed Courtney’s face, when raven black waves cascaded down Emily’s back from a low pony tail. The only features they shared were dark brown eyes that were only slightly different shades and both had fuller figures.

Sam also noticed the obvious discrepancy in Emily and Courtney’s demeanours. Courtney kept her eyes well away from either of the brothers' and was happy to stand slightly behind Emily. Her body language also indicated that she was incredibly shy and had closed herself off slightly, clasping her hands in front of her. On the other hand, Emily was taking control of the conversation and had a elbow casually draped over the counter as if she were conversing with an old friend.

Dean cleared his throat. “We were just going to ask the admin about any new teachers-“

“New teachers?” Emily cut Dean off which earned her a mild glare from the man. “We can help you there.”

Sam piped up. “As my partner said, we were going to ask the administration staff, but seeing as they’re not here, you could help us. And secondly, where is the staff?”

Emily flicked her loose hairs out of her face. “Miss Cipriano was the only one on today, because everyone else is out with the flu. Then she got a call saying her sister was going into labour, so she had to leave." She gestured vaguely in front of her. "We told her we’d find a teacher's aid to take over for her for the rest of the day.”

Dean pulled out a notebook and prompted Emily. “So, new teachers…”

“Right.” She smoothed back the loose hairs that had fallen back in her face again. “The newest teacher here is Mr. Diablo. We have him for Religion, don’t we Courtney?”

Courtney snapped her attention back to the conversation. “Yeah, we do. We’ve always thought he was weird though.”

“Weird how?” Sam was scribbling in his own notebook.

“He always goes on these weird religious tirades that have nothing to do with what is supposed to be in the curriculum and to be honest, most of the time he doesn’t seem to end up on Heaven’s side of the fence.” Emily had monopolised the conversation again, as Courtney slid a step closer to her.

Both of the Winchesters’ suspicions were piqued. “Anything else.”

Emily snapped her fingers. “Yeah, I just remembered Mr. Diablo’s first name. His name always gives us the creeps on top of how creepy he already is. It’s Daemon Diablo.” She spelled out Daemon, "D-A-E-M-O-N. Drop the ‘A’ and you have ‘demon’ and, well, Diablo is Spanish for-“

“Devil.” Sam cut in and cast an admiring eye over her. “That’s impressive; you know your Spanish.”

A demure shrug of her shoulders. “Not really. Me and Google just get on spectacularly.”

Dean rolled his eyes. This Emily chick was going to be a pain, he knew it. With his attitude and Sam’s intelligence, she’d easily match them blow for blow. Though he was yet to learn much about Courtney, he figured that she had more of Sam’s personality. A thought came to him.

“Girls? You want to do some surveillance for us?” Dean saw the girls’ eyes brighten.  
Courtney smiled. “Okay.”

Her sister grinned. “What do we do and when do we begin?”

Sam caught on to Dean’s idea and instructed the two teenagers in front of them. “We want you to jot down notes. Anything Mr. Diablo says, anything he does. Anything at all.” He wrote down the address of their motel and handed the business card to Emily.

Emily studied the card and nodded resolutely. “We can most likely get it to you this afternoon. Dad will be working late today so we’ll be able to drop it off easy.”

Dean blinked. “You can drive?”

She propped her hand on her hip again. “Of course I can. It’s a pretty sweet ride if I do say so myself.”

“So, how old are you?” Sam tilted his head.

Courtney and Emily answered simultaneously. “Seventeen.”

Dean raked his eyes over the girls. Sam predicted his brother’s train of thought and attempted to squash his foot. This didn’t go unnoticed by the girls who shared a knowing look.

The Winchesters thanked the girls for their time, telling them to get to their classes and left for their car.

Sam shook his head. “Daemon Diablo? Demon Devil? It’s like he’s _wants_ to be noticed.”

Dean snorted. “And did you catch the fact that he teaches _religion?_ ”

“There’s something suspicious about all of this, if you ask me.” The taller brother clambered into the passenger seat.

“Yeah, those twins looked nothing like twins.” Dean was sent a withering glare from his brother. “Wait, you mean about the creepy ass teacher? I’d say he’s Lucifer, without a doubt.”

“Let’s just wait for Courtney and Emily’s information, okay? And do you think we should be getting them involved in this?” Sam appeared nervous. “What if Lucifer figures out that they’re spying for us? It could end really badly.”

Dean tried to catch his brother’s eye, but was avoided. “Hey, look at me!” He reluctantly looked at him. “If anything’s going to happen, we’ll look after them, okay? They seem like fighters. I saw us in them, Sammy. Emily is just like me and Courtney is a really mini version of you. We can make this life work and so can they." He clicked on the indicator. "Besides, do you know how unlikely that is? They get us some notes, we'll hunt down Lucifer, we stick some permanent holes in him, we get to go home and they get to continue on gossiping about boys.”

Sam still seemed slightly green. “I don’t want this life for anyone else, you know?” His eyes darted around before settling on his hands. “I wouldn’t wish our upbringing on anyone, no matter what they have or haven’t done and these girls are innocents.”

Reaching a hand across the car, Dean placed a reassuring hand on his younger brother’s shoulder. “Everything will turn out well in the end. It’s all we can hope for, isn’t it?”

Sam stared out of the window at the sparse trees, shrubs and beautiful homes whipping past his window and imagined the owners’ simple and fulfilling lives; their families blissfully unaware of the dangerous entity lurking in wait at their local school.

“Yeah,” he agreed softly. “We can only hope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think? Drop me a line, let me know.
> 
> No notes for you this time around. Maybe next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

The siren signalling the end of lunch sounded and the twins, Emily and Courtney, swiftly made their way to the section of the school housing the standard issue classrooms. These classrooms were host to the lessons that didn’t require the specialty computer labs, mechanical equipment or the science labs. Every day after lunch on a normal day, the two girls would line up outside their designated room and continue the lunchtime gossip until their perpetually grumpy teacher showed up and ushered them inside.

This day was not like any normal day though. Courtney and Emily were eager to play their part in the investigation and prove their already forming suspicions about their teacher being a dodgy fellow. Jittery with nerves and the excitement of meeting the two ‘federal agents,’ the twins were already waiting at the classroom before the bell had even sounded with their notebooks.

Courtney grinned at her sister. “Did you see him? Super tall, muscled and totally handsome? Damn that Sam was _fiiine._ ”

Emily hummed in agreement. “Samuel Cole definitely spends his spare time at the gym. Don’t you think he’s just a bit tall for you?”

Glaring at the dig about her height, Courtney jammed her elbow into the taller girl’s ribs.

“Ow!” Emily let out a string of curses that would make a sailor blush. “What did I tell you about doing that?”

“You started it.”

She rubbed at her now tender ribs and flipped her hair. “Well, you can have Sam because James is my kind of guy. Tall, dark and handsome with the bad boy edge that is irresistible to me.”

Courtney rolled her eyes at the same spiel that Emily spouted all of the time. Thumbing her notebook, she turned back to her sister. “How much longer to the bell?”

She consulted her diamond speckled watch before replying. “It should be going any second now.”

The shorter twin dropped her voice to a whisper. “Do you think he’ll notice us? I mean, we don’t want to blow it, but we have to know who he is exactly.”

“I know that,” Emily snapped back at the same volume. “If he’s who we think he is, we’re screwed anyway. On the plus side, we now have our very own federal agents to help us.”

The bell startled the two and they jumped apart, terrified they were going to be caught by the teacher. Slowing their heartbeats, they leaned against the brick wall and waited for the rest of the class to join them.

Soon, the girls’ classmates had congregated with them outside of the simple classroom and were amiably chatting amongst one another with no knowledge that the twins were now working undercover for the Federal Police. Hardly any minutes had passed before Daemon Diablo stormed toward his classroom, silencing the pupils’ babble.

Mr. Daemon Diablo was an intimidating figure. A terrible combination of fear and power shadowed him wherever he went, terrifying students and fellow teachers alike and his cruel personality did nothing to alleviate anyone’s distress. Any child unlucky enough to land him as a teacher quickly learned to behave in his classes for fear of a swift and dreadful punishment. He wasn’t a terrible teacher all of the time, it was the occasions when Diablo slipped up and unloaded his rage upon a slightly insubordinate student that were the most horrifying experiences and the ones that stuck in the youths’ minds.

This chilling reputation put the entire student body on edge around him and having only been an educator at the school for a measly month, this was a huge feat.

As Mr. Diablo strode into the classroom, the school children’s tension visibly sapped slightly. Their teacher was in a rarely seen good mood. They filed in after the smiling teacher and took their places at their set desks and organised their schoolbooks.  
Courtney and Emily had seats next to each other at the back of the classroom and had the perfect vantage point to observe their target without raising suspicions. They knew there was a reason they picked those seats at the start of the term, besides the need to talk to one another.

“Class, today you are going to be taking notes, so get out your notebooks and pens.” The collective groan was heard in the minds of every student, but didn’t dare voice it aloud in case it shattered the mood of their teacher. Courtney and Emily, however, were hosting a silent party for two at the back of the room. They had a plausible reason for jotting down anything and everything he said.

“Today we will be discussing the Fall of Lucifer from Heaven.” Courtney and Emily shot each other worried looks. He wouldn’t, would he…?

“Make sure your pens are in your hands, ready to go.” Diablo scrutinised each of his students to make sure they were obeying his orders and left a lingering gaze over those who resided in the back row.

Dusting down his jacket, he began. “We’ll start with the basics. The name ‘Lucifer’ means light-bearer. However the term “bearer of light” is known by everyone as meaning the Lord’s human son.”

Was it their imagination or did he say ‘human’ with a tad of disgust? Emily noted that on her sheet in the ruled column.

“Lucifer was once in the ranks of the Seraphim, which have been described as fiery, flying serpents, though these are only artistic representations.” Mr. Diablo pointed to a set of images projected onto the whiteboard at the front of the class.

“Lucifer was also known to be God’s best angel; loyal to a fault, but prideful of his ways. It is said that this pride and his thoughts of being a superior entity are what caused him to lose his holy seat in Heaven. His superiority complex, as some have described, caused him to attempt to overthrow his Lord Almighty and resulted in his banishment to the fiery depths of Hell. As he fell from the Lord’s Kingdom, he was said to have been as lightning.”

This time, Diablo’s projector produced Gustave Doré’s illustration of _Paradise Lost_ , a shock of black and white.

“This painting depicts John Milton’s poem in which Lucifer is seen descending from Heaven to bring about the downfall.” Diablo’s smug tone struck a suspicious chord in Courtney, who noted this behaviour down.

“Now, back on track.” Next on the screen appeared a biblical reference, Revelations 12:16, which Diablo read aloud. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels; And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, yeheavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”

The pure bitterness in his voice by the end was apparent to even the most unintelligent members of the class who shared confused looks. The twins, though, knew exactly what was going on and the more the lesson progressed, the more their suspicions were confirmed. They jotted down the bible citation and his reaction to said verse.

Daemon cleared his throat and carried on. “Enough with the overview, let’s get down to the more finer details and start from the beginning.

“Lucifer, before his rebellion, was a highly exalted angel and was next in honour to God’s own Son. The angel had a powerful intellect and was noble and majestic. The light that surrounded other angels paled in comparison to his own, though not even Lucifer could hold an ounce of the eminence that the Holy Trinity held over the heavenly host. He was always in the presence of the Father and Christ’s manifestation spawned great envy in the heart of Lucifer.

“The Lord assembled the angelic host so that they may bestow special honour upon the Son of God. Christ was seated on the Heavenly Throne at the right hand of the Father as the angels offered exaltations. God then deemed that Christ shall be equal with the Lord their God and would be obeyed as readily as the Father and had the authority to command the hosts of angels. Christ was to work alongside His Father in the creation of the earth and would carry out His Father’s will and nothing of Himself.

“Lucifer grew envious of Jesus, and yet when the other angels knelt before the Son of God, the Morning Star knelt with them, though his heart was heavy with hatred. Christ was granted access to the Father’s plans while Lucifer was left out of the knowledge. He aspired to command the weight of God’s power and questioned why Christ was to be the one honoured before him.”

Emily and Courtney scribbled with haste, trying desperately to record every fragment of information they could. This wasn’t just a biography of Lucifer’s life, this was his autobiography.

“Satan left the presence of his Father, his heart overflowing with his sheer hatred of Jesus and as he concealed his true intentions, he assembled the choirs of angels. He introduced his subject, himself, and detailed the blatant neglect of himself and told of the Lord’s preference to Christ. He persuaded them to see his side, the side that revealed that the so-called Son of God was quelling their rights. He stated that he had called them together to guarantee them that no longer would he bow down to Christ. No longer would he be commanded by another beside his Lord God. He summoned those who would submit to him and obey his voice of truth as he commanded them.

“There was conflict between the heavenly host. Lucifer and his fellow voices of truth strived to reform the government of God, unhappy that as they looked to the wisdom of their Lord, they would be assaulted by the requirement to kneel before Christ. They rebelled against Jesus’ authority.

“Angels still obedient to the Will of the Son sought to reconcile the rebellious Lucifer to the Creator’s Will. They strived to convince their wayward comrade that he retained no less honour than before the Lord proclaimed His Son’s honour. They told Lucifer that Jesus had always existed with Him as the right hand of God, even before the creation of the choirs of angels. Lucifer’s formerly fellow angels wept as they failed to convince the Morning Star to renounce his wicked designs and submit to their Creator.

“Lucifer still refused to listen and remained faithful to his own beliefs. He turned from the loyal angels and denounced them as slaves, as they stood amazed that Lucifer’s efforts to begin a rebellion had succeeded. Lucifer promised a new and improved government in which there would be freedom for all. The number of angels that supported Lucifer in his crusades grew larger as time moved on and as his advances succeeded he knew that the angels should be on his side. He knew that the divine will wanted him to prevail and when all of the angels joined his rightful side, he would he equal to the Father. Those who persistently kept their loyalties to the Creator pestered him still, warning of severe consequences. They warned that He who created the angels could wield the same power to overturn their authority. When their warnings fell on deaf ears, they turned their persuasive tongues to his followers and tried to convince them to turn away from his evil doings and confess to the Lord their God of their wrongdoings.

“To m- Lucifer’s distaste,” Diablo hastened to catch himself, but the twins still caught his stumble. “Many of his loyal listened to God’s loyal angels and were motivated to regard their words and seek repentance from the Father. Lucifer then declared that he knew God’s law and if he would submit to obedience, he would be stripped of his honour. Those left on his side wished to desert him and Lucifer told them that they had gone too far and could not go back. He would brave the consequences for he would never worship the Son of God. He declared that they must take by force the authority that had not been willingly given and thus Lucifer became Satan, the Adversary.”

Diablo cast a calculated glance across the notebooks of his students and was pleased to see that they had pages upon pages crammed full of notes. Courtney and Emily nursed their writers’ cramps while he halted his dictation. Sooner than they would have preferred, Daemon launched back into his speech.

“Those loyal angels raced to the Son of God and regaled him and His Father with the details of what was taking place amongst the other angels. The Lord and His Son were in council to determine though which method by which they could put down the authority of Satan forever. God decided to take the course of distinctly manifesting His justice and judgement to the entire heavenly host.”

Diablo broke off. Coming up next was the most important part of his lecture; The War in Heaven. He cleared his throat before starting again.

“Rebelling against God and His government was the highest crime and all of Heaven was in calamity. All angels were divided into divisions with higher ranking angels at their heads.

“All of the heavenly host were summoned before the Creator to have their case determined and Lucifer unashamedly declared his displeasure at the fact that Christ should be preferred before Him. He urged, as he stood proudly, that he should be the one that the Father should confer with, not Christ. The Lord informed Lucifer that he would only ever reveal His purpose to His Son and His Son alone and that all in Heaven had to yield obedience, but that Lucifer had proved himself unworthy of Heaven. Lucifer then pointed to his followers, nearly one half of the angels, and exclaimed that they were on his side, questioning if He would cast them out as well. He declared that he was prepared to fight for his place in Heaven by force of might and strength against strength.

“As the angels loyal to the Lord and Christ wept at Lucifer’s words, God decreed that all of the rebellious would remain in His Kingdom no longer. Lucifer grew bolder in his rebellion and expressed his contempt for the Father’s law. He claimed that angels should be free to follow their own will, not to lay obedient at the Lord’s feet. He stated that the conditions of angels needed improvement and God was displeased. The happiness and obedience of the heavenly host had been perfect because of their law, with special work assigned to each angel and all was harmonious until Lucifer rebelled.”

Diablo cringed as he ventured into the next happenings. “Then there was war in Heaven. Those united with the Son of God and the Lord, including archangels of the likes of Gabriel and Michael, battled against Lucifer and all those loyal to him. The angels on the side of the Creator prevailed and Lucifer and his followers were expelled from the Heavenly Kingdom into the fiery pits of Hell.”

Silence enveloped the class as the lecturer drew his speech to a close. Courtney and her sister exchanged incredibly weary glances as they recalled that he had mentioned certain things that elicited bad feelings from deep within and a sense of foreboding.

The final bell of the day startled the entranced class and broke them out of their collected reverie enough to enable them to collect their books. As the class marched out the door and their lunchtime gossip resumed, Mr. Diablo called over to the twins.

“Have a good afternoon, girls. Oh, and watch out for yourselves.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy history lesson batman. As I was editing this chapter, it was like "I honestly don't remembering writing this." Which is true because I wrote it two/three years ago.
> 
> I hope it wasn't too boring for you.
> 
> \- You can find the illustration of Paradise Lost [here](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Paradise_Lost_12.jpg/485px-Paradise_Lost_12.jpg)


	5. Chapter 5

Emily and Courtney climbed into Emily's flashy car, which she always parked in the secure car park across the road from the school, still severely shaken from Diablo's parting words.

 _Oh, and watch out for yourselves..._ The words ricocheted around their minds like a bullet. All around, back and forth, to and fro. There was a thinly veiled threat in those typically harmless words. They knew it and he knew it. He must have overheard their conversation with the men in the office and decided to take action.

This was not good and if their father knew... Their father. Emily stopped short as her mind tripped over the words and tried to prevent the tears from pooling in her eyes.

Emily had found that the best method of dealing for her was to distract herself, doing anything and everything to stop herself from thinking about him. If her mind was occupied with other tasks, it couldn't wander into dangerous topics.

"Directions, Courtney."

Her sister rummaged through her bag to find the business card she had stashed in her purse. "Um, they're at the Standley Tapper Inn out on the highway."

The two of them had only been living in the city for five months, but they still knew their way around the town like the back of their hands. It was a skill they had picked up after moving from place to place around the world for all of their lives. Emily once again pushed back thoughts of her father. It was him that made them move around because of his line of work and that work was the precise reason why he wasn't with them.

_What is it? Remember Daddy Day or something?_

As they drove towards the motel, Courtney pulled out her mobile phone and dialed the number scribbled across the bottom. The phone rang three times before it was picked up.

_"Hello?"_

Courtney grinned. "Hi, it's Courtney, the girl from Francis VanderOord High School."

 _"I know exactly who you are Courtney."_ A faint chuckle. _"Is there are reason you're calling?"_

"Right, the reason." Courtney pulled her A-game back together. "We've got some information that you're not going to believe."

_"What? What is it?"_

"It's best not said over the phone." She peeked over at her sister whose eyes were shining with unshed tears and she knew exactly what was going through her head. "We’re currently heading towards your motel. You are there, right?"

 _"Uh, no. Not exactly."_ Pause. _"I'm at the supermarket getting a few necessities."_

If Courtney was up to being her normal self and not quaking in her boots, she would have let loose a flirty giggle and teased him, but today was anything but normal once again. Their world had been rocked to the foundations and it was not the time to play coy with an older man. "Okay, is your partner with you?"

_"Part-? Oh yeah, no. He's still at the motel. Why don't you go ahead and meet him there. I'll be back shortly."_

"Gotcha. Bye." Courtney hung up before he could respond.

Emily turned to her sister, seemingly back in control of herself again. "So? Are we still going to the motel or what?"

"Yeah, we are. Samuel's partner will be there, he's just at the shops picking up some necessities at the moment."

The driver snorted. "He said that? _'Necessities?'_ You know what, that's exactly something he'd say."

Courtney scowled. "Leave him alone. I'm sure I can find plenty of things to pick on about your one, so shut up."

Being the mature seventeen year olds that they were, they poked their tongues at each other as they pulled into the motel's car park. Emily made sure to park around the back where her 'baby' wouldn't get hurt and they searched for room 12.

They spotted the door to room 12 ajar the slightest bit and Courtney in her naivety waltzed right into a scene she really didn't want to see. Emily, one step behind her, took the scene in with a smirk as Courtney rushed back out of the room to hide behind the door.

Standing by the bed in nothing but a pair of low slung dark wash jeans and with water glistening in his cropped hair was Dean Winchester, gingerly kissing someone, who looked suspiciously male, cradling the side of their face. A silent side step by Emily revealed that her suspicion of the gender was quite true. In Dean's arms was Castiel, whose trench coat, suit jacket and tie had all been discarded neatly on the bed.

Outside, Courtney had redialed Sam. "How far away are you?"

_"Courtney? What's wrong? Is there any danger? I'm just around the corner."_

"There isn't any danger." She only just managed to spit that out for she was assaulted with the image of the two men kissing in the room behind her. "Your brother, he... he and his friend. You know him. The two of them. They were.. It was a bit weird."

_"They and who were what?"_

She couldn't seem to spit the words out right. "They... kissing."

_"What?"_

Back inside, Emily cleared her throat and the two men sprung apart. Dean's face was flushed a bright crimson while Castiel kept his eyes trained on the floor. Incredibly flustered, Dean reverted back into his typical self.

"Do you wanna join in?" He was only half joking. He was all for it, as long as Cas wasn't involved.

Emily seemed to be considering the offer, before Castiel jumped in. "That's not funny, Dean."

They resumed their awkward gathering. Dean flushed with embarrassment, though still checking Emily out, Castiel alternating between staring at the wall and the floor and Emily smirking at the once over Dean was giving her and the whole damn situation. If she got one good thing out of today, it was that Dean was interested.

All too soon, Sam came busting through the doors trailing Courtney behind him as she held his hand. Completely confused, Sam motioned for his brother to start talking, but it was Emily that chose to break the silence by muttering to herself, knowing full well that Sam could hear her words.

"Damn, why are the good ones always gay?"

That got Sam's vocal cords working. "Gay? What? Dean. What the hell is going on? I get a call from Courtney saying my brother was kissing his friend and that I knew him?"

Sam got himself worked up into a tizzy about his brother doing things behind his back, how he always thought he was a womaniser and "Couldn't you just tell me, you jerk? I would have supported you no matter what."

Emily stood to the side watching on with amusement. There was nothing she liked better than seeing people get worked up about something that wasn't true. Well, she lied about there being nothing better than them getting worked up. The best part was watching them realise they had made a fool out of themselves.

As soon as Sam had started to get fired up, Courtney slipped over to her sister's side and grabbed her hand instead. Squeezing her sister's hand in reassurance that she was okay, Courtney watched on as Sam took strips off his brother while Castiel looked like he wanted to do nothing more than vanish into thin air. Which he could do, but he didn't want to leave the brothers alone.

Sam soon cooled down enough to let his brother get a word in edgewise. "Sam! Cool your jets! I'm not gay, okay? Still very much interested in women." His eyes started to detour, but he restrained himself. "I'm not going to explain our actions though. We're big boys and we were testing a theory. I thought your geek mind would approve of experiments. Plus, I'm still not really sure."

Sam's face remained blank.

"Experiments," Dean pressed. "You know, when you test a hypothesis to produce a conclusion?"

It appeared as if Sam's brain had stopped functioning at some point and Dean gave up, letting the conversation drift into an awkward silence.

Never being one for awkward situations, Emily once again added her own two cents. "So, Dean and Cas, eh?"

Sam's brain reignited and he shared a glance with his brother as they mentally backtracked the conversation. Almost concurrently, the brothers drew their guns and pointed them directly at the twins.

Sam glowered over the barrel of his gun. "We never told you we were brothers. You also appear to know Castiel and only _we_ know him."

Dean jumped in. "Start talking. Now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. What do you guys think? It was necessary, but something the way it's written is bugging me.
> 
> CLM and I needed a way into the next conversation about how the twins know so much and we're are massive Destiel fans so... Our logic is undeniable. 
> 
> Plus, I like having my characters a little 'bendy' and Dean isn't the only one... *cough*


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah? What do you reckon?

Emily sighed and flipped her hand in the direction of the Winchesters. "Would you put those infernal things away?"

Courtney looked at her sister at muttered, "Dad always said they were hotheads."

Stunned at the turn of events, Sam and Dean kept their guns level with the girls' chests and never wavered. How could two teenage girls, living in a completely different country know about them? Even more, how come they stumbled across them in the wide world? Unless... Sam kept his thoughts in check.

Dean on the other hand, had latched onto what Courtney had said. "Your dad always said?" He looked at the twins inquisitively. "We know your father?"

Both of the girls smirked at him. It was an alarmingly familiar expression and the feeling of having seen it before niggled away at the back of Sam's mind. He ignored it and instead focused on Emily, as it looked like she was going to speak up again.

True to Sam's precognition, Emily spoke up. "How about we start from the very beginning and then you can guess who our father is?"

Dean groaned. He had said this girl was going to cause trouble for him. He sent a pleading look to Courtney who was more likely to tell them straight up of their parentage. But apparently Dean's profile on the girl had been slightly off. The shorter twin possessed just as much mischief as her sister, though she kept it hidden away better.

Emily cast a judging eye over Dean. "You finished sounding like you're dying? It's our story, you play by our rules."

He looked indignant. "We're the ones with the guns, you play by _our_ rules."

As Emily looked to retort, Sam interjected. "Guys, enough." Sending his own pleading look to Courtney, he implored her to start talking.

She sent a questioning glance to her much taller sister who answered with an almost imperceptible nod, giving her the go ahead. To the outside world, Emily would appear to be the controlling sister, having some sort of compulsive need to be in control of the situation, but to the two of them, they were each other's worlds. Frequently, becoming more often as they grew older and the world became a more chaotic place, the two only had each other to rely on and Emily, being slightly older, would do anything to look out for her little sister. It was how they worked and they planned on keeping it like that.

Courtney cleared her throat. "When we were babies, Emily was about one month old and I was only two weeks old, our entire families were murdered and we were kidnapped. My biological mother and father were first time parents and that's about all I know, besides the fact that they had no contact with any other members of their family. They had been cut off and had to make a brand new life for themselves. Emily, she had two mothers and an older brother.”

Emily let out a dejected laugh. "His name was Nikola and he was two."

Her sister seemed to nod in understanding. "Her parents were also cut off from their families because of their relationship. The families being isolated made them perfect targets."

The shorter girl dropped her gaze to the floor again. Even though they had no memories of their previous families, it was still hard for them.

Dean's eyebrow quirked. "So you're not really twin sisters then?"

At their nod, Dean almost sent an 'I-told-you-so' look to his brother, but then decided better of it. He wasn't that cold hearted and he knew things were only going to get more horrifying from there.

Emily sensed that her sister didn't want to continue on, picked up the story for her. "So the homophobic segregation of my family and Courtney's family's forced exile by their rich parents who couldn't stand the dishonour of their daughter being pregnant before she was married caused them to be murdered." The angry glint that overtook Emily's eye was missed by no one.

"As it turns out, there is a specific group of Greek demigods that are murderous bastards." The tall girl began to quiver slightly and took a few moments to collect herself. Courtney laced her fingers with her sister's and squeezed lightly. "Their little group had started their own sacrificial tradition for the Titan Kronos. They would... They would track down families that had no major ties to their relatives and had newborns. When the baby was two weeks old, they would break into their homes in the middle of the night and slaughter everyone in their beds, taking the newborn."

Everyone in the room watched a single tear roll down Emily's cheek. "They would raise the baby themselves until it was four weeks and four days old and then they would sacrifice the child at an altar at four in the morning. Don't even ask why they had a thing for the number four. Everyone knows that it's the numbers one and seven that are powerful in Greek mythology.

"Anyway," she took a deep breath. "Courtney and I are lucky that Dad figured out the pattern. He worked out the pattern of the disconnected families , four o'clock deaths and managed to trace their movements. When he connected this to the murdered babies and how old all of them were, he did the math. My family had been murdered for their two week old exactly two weeks and four days ago. That night, they were going to murder _me_."

Now it was Emily that couldn't go on. She was too busy trying to prevent the sobs from overtaking her again. It still plagued her how close she had come to death before. Courtney rubbed her back soothingly and started speaking in her sister's place. "Dad couldn't let them murder innocent babies in some evil spiritual pursuit. He showed up just in time because they already had Emily on the altar. He killed all of the demigods that were there and rescued us."

Courtney shook her head at the pitied looks the Winchesters were giving them. "That's not all. Apparently Daddy didn't get a few of them and those rogue demigods went out and murdered the rest of our relatives. The police ran with the theory of a gang hit, but we still had no family left. Daddy took us in and here we are. According to police records, Charlotte Rivera-Anderson and Sarah Carson were declared dead and their bodies have never been recovered."

Dean frowned as he lowered his gun. "So Emily and Courtney aren't your names?"

"Yes, they are." This just proved to confuse the boys even more, so Courtney elaborated. "Our father gave us new names in an effort to distance us from the trauma and to create a new identity. When we were seven and old enough to understand, he gave us the option of changing our names back to our originals. I flat out refused, but Emily sort of dithered over whether or not to be Charlotte again. Keeping Emily did win out in the end, simply because that was her old life and she wasn't going back."

The Winchesters were dumbstruck. These girls had been through so much when they were little, only to be roped back into the world of the supernatural once again.  
Sam blinked. "Wow, you're lucky your father saved you."

"And speaking of your dad, who is he?" Dean scratched at his cropped hair.

"As we’ve said, you know him." The brothers rolled their eyes at Courtney's evasive answer.

"Yes, you did mention that a bit." Sam tried to prompt a more helpful clue with Castiel still standing stoically to the side.

Courtney glanced at her sister, hoping to elicit a happy response from her with the next hint. "He's a ladies man." Emily cracked a watery grin and let loose a giggle. That statement was incredibly true.

"You wouldn't think he's the fatherly type." Courtney continued her clues and the hunters attempted to sort through the hunters and more amiable paranormal beings they'd come across in their travels, though anyone they met in their line of work were not really suited to parenthood.

Emily piped up with a hint of her own. "He's kind of a prick to anyone besides us."

A scoff emanated from Courtney. "That's the understatement of the century."

Tapping a finger against her chin, Emily tried to come up with a hint that would totally give it away if the two Winchester brothers looked at it from the right angle, but royally confuse them otherwise. "He was once someone he never was."

Courtney went for more of a blunt approach. "He's not human." The confirmation stunned the Winchesters, but things start making a bit more sense to them. _The ability to take down a whole cult of demigods, how the girls didn’t seem fazed by weapons…_

"He has a bit of a sweet tooth." By now, the girls were practically spelling it out for them. If they simplified their clues anymore, they actually _would_ be spelling out his name.

Sam and Dean still looked like they were at an emotional masquerade ball with masks of confusion covering their faces. Castiel looked the same as ever, though he was carefully compiling every bit of information the girls revealed.

Emily had never been one for patience or idiots and the imbeciles in front of her were taking forever, grating on both of her sore spots. She pulled her luscious locks out of the elastic and ran a frustrated hand through them. "Oh my God, for fuck’s sake... He's Castiel's brother!" Apparently she also let go of her perfectly polished vocabulary.

Recognition washed over the suited angel. "Gabriel?"

"Took you bloody long enough..." A soft English lilt caressed Emily's words, belaying one of their previous countries of residence.

The response of the Winchesters wasn't as affable as the one of the angel.

"Gabriel? That son of a bitch." Sam and Dean both had their guns trained on the twins again, much to the girls' irritation. "Give us a reason why we shouldn't shoot you on the spot."

Sam nodded. "How do we know that the story you told us wasn't spun for your entertainment?"

Courtney wasn't much better off than her sister who was quaking in silent rage. Emily held up a finger at the brothers. "How dare you? Do you know how hard it was for us to trust you? How hard it was to talk about that time of our life?"

Sam looked properly ashamed, but Dean didn't falter. Emily turned her attention to the steadfast brother. "You want a reason, _Dean?_ " She sneered his name and Courtney placed a cautioning hand on her sister's forearm. "I'll give you three. One: If you killed us, you would have a seriously pissed off father on your hands, and you do remember that he is an archangel, right? The angel on your shoulder's powers don't even illuminate a light bulb next to our father's sun, so don't think that he'll be able to save your asses. Two: We're on your side of the fence for this battle, just like our father-"

Dean scoffed and kept his handgun level with the lecturing teen's chest, interrupting her tirade. The glare that she sent his way would have had a lesser man quivering in his boots. "Do _not_ interrupt me again. You asked for the reasons to begin with, so shut up and listen to them." When she saw his reluctant acceptance of her words, she continued. "As I was saying, two: Our family hates Lucifer just as much as you do, if not more. Speaking of Lucifer, here's our third reason: We have that information you asked for and a whole lot more."

She counted the reasons off on her fingers, all the while searching the short hunter's face for any sign of remorse for his attitude. Happy that Dean was properly schooled, she relented in her rant.

Sam's ears perked up at the insinuation that they had access to a lot more material for them. "Castiel is an angel and knows what goes on in Heaven. It's not like you can get a better source than that."

"That is not true." Castiel spoke up for the first time in what seemed like years. "Angels are not privy to the same knowledge that is kept in the upper echelons of angels. Seraphim and archangels are kept informed on all happenings, while angels like me are only told what is necessary to fulfill their tasks."

Courtney let a smile cross her face. "Thanks, Cas." She turned back to the Winchesters. "Daddy is an archangel and therefore has better ears than your friend."

Clearing his throat, Sam gave the adopted girls an apologetic look. "Sorry. Uh, could we take a look at the information you scored for us? Anything at all would be a leg up."

The shorter teen shoved her hand into her skirt pocket and fished out a neatly folded piece of paper while her sister did the same. "We both wrote down the same things, but maybe there's one or two observations that one of us missed that the other didn't."  
Grateful for the information on the teacher, Sam and Dean seated themselves at the small table and started scanning the sheets.

"Oh yeah, we're definitely looking at Lucifer here." Concern furrowed Sam's forehead. "Do you think it's safe for Gabriel's daughters to be in the same classroom as the Devil?"

Dean soon had a matching expression. "I get what you mean. Luci's definitely going to be holding a candle for a brother that didn't stop him from being booted from the Sky High club and how better to get revenge than to go after his kids?"

While the brothers discussed strategies and difficulties, Castiel was busy observing the two teenagers who huddled together by the curtained window. He overheard the occasional whispered sentence, such as Courtney's hushed, _'Shouldn't we tell them? I mean, they have a right to know?'_ and Emily's, _'Are you insane? They'll probably pull their guns on us again.'_

Intrigued, Castiel questioned them on their conversation. "Courtney, Emily, what are you talking about?"

Sam and Dean's attention was once again captured by the extraordinary teenage girls. Courtney feeling that they were caught in the act, blurted, "Emily's always sort of had a thing for Dean."

Emily's hand clamped down on her sister's mouth seconds too late, the words already out there. She missed the smug smile tug at Dean's lips and hissed at her sister. "What the hell do you think you're doing? How would you like it if I just randomly burst out in front of Sam saying that _you_ had a thing for _him?_ " The revengeful sparkle glistened in her eye. "Oops, did I say that out loud?"

The Winchesters' hands itched to go for their guns again, but they owed it to the twins to hear them out. Jumping to conclusions last time had not boded well for everyone involved. "Do you mind... Uh, explaining?"

 _Here we go again,_ Emily groaned at the thought, _another delightful story to regale the Winchesters with..._ "You got us into this mess, you can talk us out." Leaning against the wall, she folded her arms across her chest and settled in for Courtney's story. Emily thought she'd done enough talking for the day anyway.

Fidgeting slightly, Courtney sighed. Why did she have to open her mouth? "Well, you see... Dad, Gabriel, gets bored after staying in one place too long and his Grace is kind of like a lighthouse on a foggy night for evil characters, so we have to keep moving. He also likes messing with people, so the constant change of scenery keeps him amused. When the two of you, the infamous Winchester brothers, started hunting he couldn't resist such an obvious target."

The brothers looked at each other as if they understood so far, so Courtney continued. "Every three or four months we'd have to move in fear of being found by the bad guys and we would move to whatever city the two of you were hunting in. Daddy started to get bored of the same ritual about six moves in though and was itching to mess with you."

Sam and Dean thought they had an idea of where she was going with the story, but Courtney surprised them. "He didn't bother you though, scared that you would persist in hunting him and us down."

Courtney got jittery as the end of the story approached, meaning the real explaining would have to be told. “Emily, please...”

Shrugging herself off the wall, she sauntered next to Courtney. She might have been pissed off, but she could never see her sister struggle. “Fine. Boys, occasionally our father would lapse and pester you, though through no fault of his own.” Ignoring the questioning gazes, she persisted onwards. “Ever since we were thirteen, our lives revolved around moving to wherever the two of you were and of course we were going to latch onto one of the few constants we had. Everything else in our lives was kicked from beneath us in a matter of months every time, except for my sister, our father and the two of you.

“Dean, when you went to Hell, I was crushed. One of my supports had been torn from me forever and the world seemed that much more unforgiving. When Castiel brought you back, both of us felt like all was right in the world again. We both made special attachments to each of you with us preferring one of the other typically. From your personalities, Courtney latched on to Sam; the quiet, intelligent and more reasonable of you. I grasped onto Dean; the more brazen, outspoken and sarcastic one.” Emily blushed and as a first for the day, affixed her eyes to the carpet. “However, when Lucifer sprung free from his cage, Daddy decided America was no longer safe. To protect us, he moved us out here to the middle of nowhere.

“But now,” she raised her head, this time with an urgency in her eyes, “Lucifer knows we’re here anyway and we’ve been left alone with him. Dad’s been scoping out his remaining allies in Heaven and we’ve been alone here for about six weeks now. We were terrified when two weeks after Dad leaves town, this new teacher just appears at the school, but we had no proof of his identity. After today, he knows that we know who he is and now he’s not afraid to show it. Lucifer knows the only way to get to Dad is through us.” Emily took a deep breath as sobs began to shudder through her. “We’ve tried everything we can to get in contact with Daddy, but we can’t! It’s like something’s blocking off our prayers and we’re going to die here if we can’t get him to come home. We’re so lost without him.”

Emily broke down in Courtney’s arms and the two girls sunk to the floor, crying.

  
“We just want our dad to come home.”


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

Courtney consoled her sister as the tears cascaded down the older girl's face, all the while she struggled to contain her own sobs. The last few months had been hard on the two of them and they had missed their father immensely. Now, with their suspicions about Lucifer confirmed, it felt as if their lives were crashing down around them. Rehashing those memories with the Winchesters had brought everything to the surface and those wounds were once again red raw.

While the girls attempted to get a hold of themselves, Sam, Dean and Castiel conferred in their own corner of the motel room.

"Gabriel is a father? I just-uh..." Dean couldn't get past the idea and spluttered.

Sam wasn't much more eloquent. "He never seemed like the, uh... type.”

Castiel gave pause before replying. "He was always very passionate about his tasks in Heaven, more so than others. I don't find it hard to believe that he would be just as passionate about these girls."

The Winchesters stared at Cas. He'd never talked about the behaviour of fellow angels in Heaven before, let alone his superiors.

"Gabriel would be a powerful ally against Lucifer and his daughters are distraught without him." Cas' logic ticked over in the Winchesters' minds and they could only see one flaw in the plan: Gabriel himself. They still weren't fond of him, no matter what his daughters said. They relented when they thought of the girls. They couldn't find it in their consciences to separate an obviously loving family. 

Castiel volunteered his abilities in an effort to find his brother and drew the short straw when it came to telling the girls. 

"Emily, Courtney." Watery eyes pierced his own crystal blues. "I am going to try and locate your father."

It took a few seconds for them to register what the angel was telling them before they lunged for him. They wrapped him in an unbreakable hug and held on for dear life while Castiel stood there awkwardly.

"Thanks, Uncle Cas." Emily whispered in his ear, stunning the angel with the familial endearment.

Pulling themselves away from their uncle, Courtney then went and wound her arms around Sam. The youngest Winchester was uncomfortable at first before giving in and returning the embrace. Emily sized up Dean and decided to follow in her sister's footsteps. She wrapped her arms around him and placed a delicate kiss on his cheek. "I know you don't trust Gabriel, so thank you."

Dean melted and hugged Emily back. "I couldn't leave you without your dad."

Everyone finally broke off their embraces and settled on various surfaces around the room. Sam sprawled on his bed with Courtney perched prim and proper on the far end, Dean lounged on his own bed with a casual hand propping up his head and Emily flopped like a ragdoll over the end of Dean's bed. Castiel, on the other hand, had settled himself down in a wooden chair in a corner of the kitchenette. It would be incredibly hard to track down Gabriel; an archangel who was cloaking their powers took extreme concentration and finesse to locate along with a few dodgy - read: dark - incantations.

Sam spoke up first. "While we wait for Cas to do his thing, why don't you girls tell us a few things about Gabriel."

Courtney relaxed into the mattress slightly and leaned back on her hands. "What do you mean?"

"Like..." Sam searched for the right topic. "Why did he all of a sudden interfere with us in Springfield, Ohio? You know, with the-"

"Slow-dancing alien!" Dean smirked. "That one was a classic."

Emily's eyes lightened in recognition. "The first time! It wasn't our fault he bugged you that time, it was all Daddy's fault."

"What did we miss behind the scenes?" Dean queried.

"Well..." 

\---

_Gabriel flicked through his copy of the Weekly World News as he sat in his tacky armchair. In fact, everything about the room was tacky; the overly patterned wallpaper, the velvet chairs, the huge mirrors... When Gabriel committed to something, he never did things half assed and irking the Winchesters definitely warranted the best of his acting abilities._

  
_The tabloid that held his interest flashed huge titles at him._ 'An Alien Made Me It's Love Slave,' 'Alligator In The Sewer,' _and_ '... Madman Chainsaws Family... Body Parts Strewn Over Grisly Scene.' _"Oh that's a good one," Gabriel appreciated._

_In his Trickster get up, consisting of a simple white tank top and satin boxers the colour of blood, Gabriel beckoned an aging Jack Russel, something that he and his daughters had adopted from the local animal rescue. Courtney had begged and begged for the dog for months before he caved and agreed to 'Scruffy.' Scruffy had been around twelve when they got him and Gabriel could tell that the old boy didn't have that much longer left in him._

_"Come here." Scruffy bounded over to Gabriel as fast as his weary legs could carry him and was hefted up into his owner's arms. "Could you eat? I could eat. Come on."_

_Putting Scruffy down, the archangel headed to the kitchen with a champagne flute in his hand. The decadent array of sweets left his mouth watering and the lavish layout was just begging him to devour them. He helped himself to a taste before pausing. "Something's missing.” Two scantily clad beauties materialised from thin air and sidled up to Gabriel, accepting the proffered sampling of dessert. "That's better."_

_As the blonde traced her fingers down his biceps and the brunette caressed Gabriel's shoulder, the twins stormed into the kitchen with matching expressions of disapproval. "Father," Emily's proper language struck a chord with Gabriel, recognising that she only ever used the formal address when she was pissed at him._  "What _are you doing?"_

_Gabriel traced one last appreciative glance over his companions before they vanished as fast as they appeared. "There, they're gone. Satisfied?"_

_"That's not what we meant.” Courtney folded her arms across her chest. "Why are you screwing with the Winchesters? You promised us that you wouldn't mess around in their lives."_

_He found it rather entertaining that he was being chastised by his own daughters, but knew not to let them onto his amusement unless he wanted some serious trouble on his hands. "So, this isn't about the girls?"_

_Gabriel was about to bring his 'friends' back when Emily halted him. “It was about them too. One, we don't like the idea of our dad having sex. That’s just gross. Two, why can’t you go find a girl out on the town instead of making your own? It seems desperate and kind of perverted.”_

_Wow, his fourteen year old girls sure were growing up fast. “Fine, I’ll pick up girls at bars.” Gabriel preferred his daughters picking at him over his sex life than his involvement in the Winchesters’ lives and that was saying something. He had hoped the girls had forgotten about that certain point-_

_“And leave the boys alone.” Courtney jumped in. Obviously he had spoken too soon._

_He held up his hands in surrender. “You win. Let me just tie things up and make them think I’m dead so they don’t come after us.”_

_Their father’s logic seemed to appease the teenagers and they left him to his thoughts as they went to bed. Gabriel cast a longing look at the space his conjured up women once filled. It looked like it was a date with his right hand tonight..._

_\---_

_“Sorry I’m dragging a little ass today, boys. I had quite the night last night.” Gabriel swung himself around the railing onto the stairs. “Lots of sex, if you catch my drift.” Bullshit, but hey. Anything to bother the Winchesters..._

_Dean smirked as he followed the janitor up the stairs. “Yeah, hard not to.” The elder Winchester changed the topic. “Listen, we won’t be long. We just need to check a couple of offices up on three.”_

_“No problem.” Gabriel appeared oblivious to the conspiring boys behind him and felt more than saw the sharp, accusing look Dean gave him._

_They reached the top of the first flight of stairs when Sam spoke up. “Oh damn, I-uh... I forgot something in the truck.” Gabriel leaned on the banister._ How obvious can this kid be? He really needs to brush up on his acting skills... _“You know what? Y-uh... I’ll catch up with you guys.”_

_“Okay.” Dean agreed and Gabriel tapped the top of the balustrade, before continuing up the next flight with the remaining Winchester in tow. The archangel wasn’t soft in the head and knew that Sam would rifle through his locker. He couldn’t be too obvious about his identity, even if it wasn’t his real one, but he still had to leave clues._

_As Sam rummaged through the collection of mismatched lockers, he came across a copy of ‘_ Weekly World News, _’ just as the Trickster had planned..._

\---

_Gabriel observed the two hunters stage their quarrel from his vantage point at one of the school’s many windows. He knew that the Winchesters knew that he was watching them and he also knew that they were trying to trick the Trickster. He scoffed. He wasn’t born yesterday and had a few aces up his sleeve of his own. The boys would never know..._

_\---_

_The two busty women from Gabriel’s interrupted night were now serving the purpose of seducing Dean. He knew that the elder Winchester had a reputation of sleeping around and hoped that maybe in him sleeping with Gabriel’s apparitions, it would sully his daughters’ opinions of the boy. Well, he liked to think it was possible._

_As Dean regrettably rebutted the advances of the clearly attractive women, Gabriel chuckled when he saw the sorrowful look on his face; the archangel was hiding in the far corner of the room. He had used his supercharged angel mojo to create the illusion of an empty corner in front of him so he could watch the show undisturbed._

_Gabriel’s fake Trickster was lounging in the audience and called out to Dean. “They’re a peace offering. I know what you and your brother do. I’ve been around a while. Run into your kind before.”_

_With a slight look of regret on his face Dean replied to him. “Well, then you know that I can’t let you just keep hurting people.”_

_“Come on! Those people got what was coming to them. Hoisted on their own petards. But you and Sam, I like you.” The fake Trickster pointed at Dean. “I do. So treat yourself... Long as you want. Just long enough for me to move on to the next town.”_

_‘Fake’ Trickster pulled a candy bar out of his pocket and started to uwrap it. Dean grimaced. “Yeah, I don’t think I can let you do that.”_

_Continuing to fumble with the wrapping on the candy, the Trickster replied, “I don’t want to hurt you. And you know I can.” Having finally unwrapped his treat, he bit into it._

_Dean grinned in respect of the man lounging in the grey seats of the auditorium. “Look, man, I- I got to tell you, I dig your style, all right? I mean,” he chuckled, “I do. I mean... and the slow-dancing alien-”_

_“One of my personal favourites, yeah.” The Trickster cut in._

_“But, uh, I can’t let you go.” The Winchester seemed almost sorry._

_The Trickster’s face turned grim. “Too bad. Like I said, I like you. Sam was right. You shouldn’t have come alone.”_

_Gabriel cursed from his vantage point. Things were going to get stickier than he had hoped for..._

_“Well, I’ll agree with you there.” The Trickster apparition frowned before turning at the sound of hinges creaking, to see Sam and Bobby both enter holding stakes. Gabriel wasn’t surprised, having felt their presence closing in on the building._

_The Trickster spun back around to Dean. “That fight you guys had outside... That was a trick?” He mussed this over and the man in front of him pulled out a stake of his own. “Not bad. But you wanna see a real trick?”_

_Snapping his fingers, a masked man with a chainsaw appeared behind Sam.  Gabriel watched on in silence as Dean fought with the two skimpily clothed women and Sam and Bobby both grappled with the chainsaw maniac. He knew that if things got too far out of hand, he’d step in, but for the moment he was confident that everything would sort itself out._

_Dean was flung into the seats in front of the Trickster and the pagan god applauded. “Nice toss, ladies! Nice show.”_

_He rose from his seat and Gabriel waited with baited breath for his plan to play out. On cue, Dean drove the stake through his vision’s heart and the archangel made his creations shimmer before disappearing, leaving only the dead Trickster._

_The hunters eagerly fled the scene and left Gabriel to his handiwork. He approached his lookalike’s body, banished it and happily munched on another chocolate bar. While he may not have been a Trickster, he still had a terrible sweet tooth._

_Gabriel cast a searching eye around the room, trying to see if he’d missed anything. Shit. The angel cursed when he saw the massive bed setup on the podium and vanished it with a wave of his hand. He only hoped that the boys would forget that detail or think it to be something that the Trickster had dragged in to help set the scene._

_Shrugging his shoulders, his outfit shifted into apparel that more suited his tastes and he straightened his jacket before turning for home. He and the girls had to choose their next town._

_\---_

The Winchesters sat on their respective beds with their mouths agape. “So, let me get this straight,” Sam sat up fully. “Gabriel messed with us to get it out of his system and then had us kill his lookalike so you could safely bail?”

Courtney and Emily looked at each other. “Well, yeah.”

Sam remembered the next time Gabriel visited vividly. “What happened with the Mystery Spot in Broward County?”

_\---_

_Gabriel knew that Sam had no idea what was going on, so he dropped him a hint. He used strawberry syrup instead of maple on his pancakes. He knew that Sam was a bright guy who noticed the little things and he hoped that this would steer him in the right direction. True to his daughters’ beliefs, Sam did notice that change in syrup and figured him out._

_The archangel reset the Tuesday and watched as Sam woke with a vengeance. In the diner, Gabriel finished up his meal as he listened to the frazzled boy snap at his brother and walked out appearing oblivious to the world. He heard Sam get up to follow him out while Dean lagged behind throwing cash on the table for their meal. The younger Winchester grabbed the angel disguised as a Trickster disguised as a married man who sold ad space for a living and slammed him into a fence._

_Sam pinned him and pressed a blood-soaked stake up to the man’s neck, who shouted his surprise. “I know what you are. Or should I say what.”_

_Gabriel raised his arms in character. “Oh my God, please don’t kill me.”_

_Sam looked as determined as ever, though Dean was jittery. “Uh, Sam?”_

_“It took me a hell of a long time but I got it.” The young hunter ploughed on, ignoring his brother. He knew who the man really was and he was going to make the Trickster admit that he was right._

_“What?”_

_“It’s your MO that gave you away. Going after pompous jerks, giving them their just desserts. Your kind loves that, don’t they?” Gabriel surveyed Sam as he ranted and decided that he looked pissed._

_“Yeah, sure okay.” He flicked a nervous glance at the stake and kept up his panicky quivering. “Just put the stake down!”_

_Dean was panicking himself. “Sam, maybe you should-”_

_“No!”_ Oops, _Gabriel thought as Sam snapped,_ maybe I have pushed him off the deep end... _“There’s only one creature powerful enough to do what you’re doing. Making reality out of nothing, sticking people in time loops – in fact you’d pretty much have to be a god. You’d have to be a Trickster.”_

_Gabriel made one last effort at convincing Sam of his identity. “Mister, my name is Ed Coleman, my wife’s name is Amelia, I got two kids for crying out loud I sell ad space-”_

_“Don’t lie to me! I know what you are! We’ve killed one of your kind before.” The archangel internally chuckled. He hadn’t meant to let it slip, but he wasn’t lying about the two kids._

_He morphed back into his normal appearance and grinned mirthfully. “Actually, bucko, you didn’t.”_

_For someone who adamantly argued that he was in fact the Trickster, Sam was surprised to see that it was the same one he had encountered before._ Huh, _Gabriel mused,_ not so sure about things anymore, are we? _Before Gabriel could even finish his thought, Sam was back to being pissed. “Why are you doing this?”_

_Gabriel scoffed. “You’re joking, right? You chuckleheads tried to kill me last time. Why wouldn’t I do this?” It had nothing to do with the Winchesters trying to kill him and more to do with the fact that one of his daughters had pissed him off._

_\---_

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Dean held his hands up. “What do you mean you pissed your father off? It must have been pretty heavy duty to warrant killing a man again and again.”

Emily turned pensive. “We had a fight. I was sick and tired of having no contact with my Heavenly family and I was taking it out on Dad. He flat out said that we couldn’t. I remember the argument so clearly and I recall saying to him that he should, _‘go to Hell for all I care! You go have a nice visit with your brother!’_ I - I really shouldn’t have said that and I knew straight away that it was a low blow. Daddy was really angry, like, I’d never seen him so pissed in my life. He vented on the only things available; you two. We didn’t talk to each other for weeks. Courtney and I would only leave our shared rooms for school and then we would hide again. Soon, Courtney got tired of the charade and stood up for me, but it was at the wrong, wrong time.

“You see, Dad had just knocked the two of you out of the time loop and-”

“Emily.” Courtney interrupted. “Just finish telling the previous story, before you get wrapped up in that.”

\---

_Dean wasn’t so unsure anymore and threw his weight into the argument. “And Hasselback, what about him?”_

_“That putz? He said he didn’t believe in wormholes, so I dropped him in one.” What Gabriel didn’t mention was that while Hasselback had been an all-around asshole. He was also having an affair on his wife and as he was an angel, he couldn’t just condemn a man for being a prick; it was the affair that Gabriel had sought justice for. In the Bible, he had been depicted as the messenger of God and the angel of revelation, but while that was all well and promoted to the kiddies at Christmas, they tended to ignore the fact the he was the angel that destroyed Sodom in a rain of fire. Plus, he was one of the seven angels of death and a manifestation of God’s judgement._

_Gabriel preened as he reminisced about the good old city of Sodom._ Damn, I am badass. _His laugh escaped him and the Winchesters attributed it to his glee of serving Hasselback his just desserts. The angel brought himself back to the present. “Then you guys showed up. I made you the second you hit town.”_

_“So this is fun for you? Killing Dean over and over again?” Sam bristled._

With Emily and Courtney hounding me? Not really, no. _“One, yes. It is fun. And two? This is so not about killing Dean. This joke is on you, Sam.” Gabriel had decided from day one that if he was going to torment the Winchesters, it was going to be to teach a lesson. This time, Sam needed a teacher with Dean nearing on Hell’s Gates and all. “Watching your brother die, everyday? Forever?”_

_Sam was ready to drive the stake through the Trickster’s heart. “You son of a bitch.”_

_“How long will it take you to realise? You can’t save your brother. No matter what.” Gabe felt sorry for the brothers. He knew that his girls were each other’s worlds, just like the Winchesters, and to have that world ripped away from one of his daughters? It would shatter them beyond repair._

_However, Sam was not a mind reader and only saw contempt on the Trickster’s part. “Oh yeah? I kill you, this all ends now.”_

_The stake dug further into Gabriel’s neck and he had to keep up appearances. “Oh-oh, hey, whoa! Okay. Okay, look. I was just playing around. You can’t take a joke, fine. You’re out of it. Tomorrow, you’ll wake up and it’ll be Wednesday.” The archangel showed his sincerity. His daughters had gotten his point long ago and now it appeared that Sam had gotten the one intended for him too. “I swear.”_

_“You’re lying.”_

_“If I am, you know where to find me. Having pancakes at the diner.” Gabriel gave them the chance to back out gracefully and leave him be._

_Sam appeared to consider his options. “No. Easier to just kill you.”_

_Flicking his head to the side with a soft smirk Gabriel replied, “Sorry, kiddo. Can’t have that.” He snapped his fingers, waiting to face the inquisition at home._

_\---_

“That just before Daddy walked right into the ticking time bomb that was Courtney.” Emily lowered her head. “He was going to tell us what had happened to Dean, but... and then he was-”

Dean rubbed a soothing hand down her back and motioned for Courtney to go on.

\---

_He stood watch, invisible. This really wasn’t how he wanted things to go. The pretend Bobby fell to the ground and remained corporeal for a few seconds that sent Sam into panic mode. Gabriel then dissipated his creation and summoned the stake._

_“You’re right. I was just screwing with you. Pretty good though, Sam. Smart. Let me tell you, whoever said Dean was the dysfunctional one has never seen you with a sharp object in your hands. Holy Full Metal Jacket!” Gabriel spun the wooden stake in his hands and used humour to smother his discomfort. This was really the opposite of how he had wanted things to go._

_The tears welled up in Sam’s eyes. “Bring him back.”_

_“Who, Dean? Didn’t my girl send you the flowers?” As if he’d do that to his girls. “Dean’s dead. He ain’t coming back. His soul’s downstairs doing the hellfire rumba as we speak.”_

_Sam’s eyes threatened to spill over and he desperately pleaded. “Just take us back to that Tuesday – er, Wednesday – when it all started. Please. We won’t come after you, I swear.”_

_“You swear.” The sincerity of the boy in front of him was astounding and he knew he kept his promises. The Winchesters not coming after him would keep his family safe._

_“Yes.”_

_He appeared to think it over. “I don’t know. Even if I could-”_

_“You can.”_

_“True.” He didn’t know why he was being such a bastard. “But that don’t mean I should.” Attempting to redeem himself, he dragged out his lesson from months ago. “Sam, there’s a lesson here that I’ve been trying to drill into that freakish Cro-Magnon skull of yours.”_

_“Lesson? What lesson?” Gabriel realised too late that he’d thrown in an insult when he was supposed to be nice._ Dammit.

_“This obsession to save Dean? The way you two keep sacrificing yourselves for each other? Nothing good comes out of it. Just blood and pain. Dean’s your weakness and the bad guys know it, too. It’s gonna be the death of you, Sam. Sometimes you just gotta let people go.” Speaking of destructive relationships, he really should have the same discussion with Emily and Courtney..._

_Sam looked lost. “He’s my brother.”_

_The archangel nodded. “Yup. And like it or not, this is what life’s gonna be like without him.”_

_“Please... Just – Please.”_

_“I swear, it’s like talking to a brick wall.” In that moment, Sam was so much like his daughters and it shook him to the core. “Okay, look. This all stopped being fun months ago. You’re Travis Bickle in a skirt, pal. I’m over it.”_

_In fact, it had stopped being fun on that last Tuesday outside the diner. He had no idea that the next day Dean would be shot and that Courtney would bad mouth him before he could tell them. Everything had just fallen apart at the seams and before he could right things back to the way things were, it turned out that Heaven needed him for the first time in millennia. In fact, the last time had been to do with Jesus... Anyway, it had taken him three months to find the time between Heaven and his girls to meet with Sam and try to straighten things out._

_“Meaning what?”_

_“Meaning that’s for me to know and you to find out.”_

_\---_

Emily had recovered from her incoherence. "How come you two never put two and two together?"

"What is this _'two and two'_ we were supposed to put together?" Dean dragged out his air quotation marks.

"When you found out that Cas could manipulate time, why didn't you think about when Gabriel did exactly the same thing? Shouldn't it raise alarm bells?"

The Winchesters only made the connection as soon as Emily made them aware of it. "It had been years and we tended to ignore the times Gabriel messed with us?" Sam was wondering why he didn't see it himself.

"Wait." It seemed that Dean had made a different connection of his own. "Why was Gabriel in Heaven all of a sudden? He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy just to rock up for no good reason."

Courtney didn't waste the sugar. "The angels were already starting to work on Dean's rescue mission."

Dean's eyebrows became acquainted with his hairline. "What?"

The girls deemed that they had covered the subject enough and shoved on. "Do you remember TV Land?"

Emily muffled a laugh. "Oh yeah, that was our fault."

_\---_

_Under the guise of being Dr. Sexy, Gabriel strutted down the hospital's corridor. As he approached, he saw Dean in utter awe and the Winchester's face twitched into adoration._ Aww, he's fangirling over me.

_Stopping next to Dean, Gabriel addressed him like all of the godforsaken characters in the show. "Doctor." They all swapped 'pleasantries' before Dr. Sexy grilled Dean. "You want to give me one good reason why you defied my direct order to do the experimental face transplant on Mrs. Biehl?"_

_Finally eliciting a different expression from the awed hunter, Dean responded, confused. "One reason?" Dr. Sexy nodded. "Sure…"_

_Dean, attempting to come up with an adequate answer, looked down at the floor. He suddenly slammed the doctor against the wall and pinned him. "You're not Dr. Sexy."_

_"You're crazy."_

_"Really? Because I swore part of what makes Dr. Sexy sexy is the fact that he wears cowboy boots. Not tennis shoes." Dean braced his forearm against the other man's chest and scowled._

_Sam smothered a grin. "Yeah, you're not a fan."_

_"It's a guilty pleasure." He admitted._

_Dr. Sexy turned his head and directed down the hall. "Call security."_

_"Yeah, go ahead, pal. See, we know who you are." Dean eyeballed the Trickster, daring him to shift to his own form._

_Time froze and Gabriel turned into himself. "You guys are getting better!"_ Took you long enough, _he thought to himself._ My girls would have already had me pinned and staked ages ago.

_"Get us the hell out of here."_

_"Or what?" Gabriel pulled Dean's arm down. "Don't see your wooden stakes, big guy." His insouciant grin made a triumphant return._

_The Winchesters tried to interrogate the Trickster, but got nowhere. Meanwhile, Gabe  tried to keep his insults to himself._

_"How do we get out?" Dean finally asked._

_"That, my friend, is the sixty-four dollar question." See? He was nice. Gabriel had tried to work on his people skills since the last time any of them met._

_"Whatever. We just, we need to talk to you. We need your help." Sammy, ever the diplomatic one._

_Gabriel paused in mock thought. "Hmm... Let me guess. You two muttonheads broke the world and you want me to sweep up your mess."_

_Sam tried to reason, but to Gabriel, he didn’t seem overly enthused. "Please. Just five minutes. Hear us out."_

_"Sure." Gabriel presented his terms to the boys, like the idea wasn't premeditated. "Tell you what. Survive the next twenty-four hours, we'll talk."_

_The elder hunter was instantly suspicious. "Survive what?"_

_"The game!" Gabriel was incredibly enthusiastic about his latest trick. He tried not to think about how incredibly enthusiastic his daughters would be once they found out..._

_"What game?"_

_"You're in it."_

_“How do we play?”_

_“You’re playing it.”_

_“What are the rules?”_

_Gabriel raised his eyebrows and grinned before disappearing in a burst of static, successfully ending Dean's round of never-ending questions. The characters surrounding the Winchesters unpaused and continued on their way._

_Dean cursed. "That son of a bitch!"_

_\---_

_Sam busied himself with hustling the underwear clad girl out the door. The whole television act was getting to them and they just wanted to know how much longer it would last._

_"We might die in here." The audience laughed at Sam's unintended melodramatics._

_Dean looked out into the viewers. "How was that even funny? Vultures."_

_Castiel burst through the set's door covered in cuts and scrapes. "You okay?" Dean asked._

_"I don't have much time." The angel was urgent._

_Sam jumped in. "What happened?"_

_"I got out."_

_The Winchesters looked confused. "From where?"_

_The angel ignored them and jumped straight to the chase. "Listen to me, something is not right. This thing is much more powerful than it should be."_

_"What thing? The Trickster?" Dean got down to business too._

_"If it is a Trickster."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_Castiel was slammed backwards, hitting the wall and Gabriel lunged inside. "Hello!"_

_The audience applauded and cheered for him while Castiel pulled himself up from the floor. Duct tape covered his mouth. Gabriel really didn't want to do that to his little brother, but he was going to get in the way of his plans; the boys had to learn his lesson and discover his true identity by themselves._

_"Thank you. Thank you. Ladies, stop." The archangel didn't miss the glare Cas sent him. "Hi, Castiel!" He fluttered his hand at the trench coat clad angel and vanished him in a burst of static._

_Sam didn't miss a thing, "You know him?" while Dean was more concerned for Cas' wellbeing, "Where did you just send him?"_

_"Relax," Gabriel placated, "He'll live... maybe." The audience laughed._

_"All right, you know what? I am done with the monkey dance, okay? We get it." Dean got right up in the Trickster's face._

_"Yeah? Get what, hotshot?"_

_Dean wasn't the happiest guy on the planet at that moment. "Playing our roles, right? That's your game?"_

_"That's half of the game."_

_"What's the other half?" Sam spoke up._

_"Play your roles-" Gabriel fluttered his fingers, "-out there."_

_The elder Winchester was condescending. "What's that supposed to mean?"_

_"Oh, you know. Sam starring as Lucifer. Dean starring as Michael. Your celebrity death match. Play your roles." Gabriel knew that the Winchesters never did as they were told and they would do the opposite of what he said with a vengeance. Reverse psychology works wonders on these boys._

_"You want us to say yes to those sons of bitches?" Sam spent way too much time around his brother._

_The archangel appeared enthused. "Hells yeah. Let's light this candle!"_ Not really. Let's just stick to modern day light bulbs, okay?

_"We do that, the world will end."_ Jeez, Sam. Figure that out all by yourself?

_"Yeah? And whose fault is that? Who popped Lucifer out of the box? Hmm?" Gabe hoped to all things holy that his strategy worked, or the planet was screwed to Hell. Literally. "Look, it's started. You started it. It can't be stopped. So let’s get it over with!"_

_Sam glared at 'the Trickster' while Dean spoke. "Heaven or hell, which side you on?"_

_"I'm not on either side."_ I'm on my family's side and if it comes down to it, I'll do anything to keep them alive.

_"Yeah, right. You're grabbing ankle for Michael or Lucifer. Which one is it?" Dean stared at Gabriel intently._

_The archangel moved right in front of the hunter. "You listen to me, you arrogant dick. I don't work for either of those SOBs. Believe me." Dean had rubbed him the wrong way and he was irritated beyond belief. One false move and he wouldn't know what hit him._

_"Oh, you're somebody's bitch."_

_There it was. The smile fell off the Trickster's face instantaneously and he grabbed Dean by the collar, slamming him into the wall that Cas had become acquainted with only minutes before. "Don't you ever, ever presume to know what I am. Now listen very closely. Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna suck it up, accept your responsibilities and play the roles that destiny has chosen for you."_

_Sam stepped in. "And if we don't?"_

_"Then you'll stay here in TV Land. Forever." It wasn't an empty threat. He would leave them there if they were going to endanger the world. "Three hundred channels and, uh, nothing's on."_

_Gabriel snapped his fingers and the Winchesters were thrown into the next show. He needed a few minutes to himself to cool his jets._

_\---_

_Dean called out to Gabriel and after a few moments, he appeared. "Wow. Sam. Get a load of the rims on you."_

_"Eat me." Sam was touchy._

_Gabe whistled before strutting back to stand in front of Dean. "Okay, boys. Ready to go quietly?"_

_"Whoa, whoa, whoa, not so fast. Nobody's going anywhere until Sam has opposable thumbs." Dean pointed to the Impala._

_A smirk spread across Gabriel's face. "What's the difference? Satan's going to ride his ass one way or another." He just couldn't help himself._

_After a hard look from the elder brother, Gabriel rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. The Impala's KITT lights died and Sam folded himself out of the car. "Happy?"_

_"Tell me one thing. Why didn't the stake kill you?" Dean pointed at the Trickster as Sam joined his side._

_Gabriel avoided. "I am the Trickster."_

_"Or maybe you're not."_

_Sam held up a flaming lighter and tossed it at Gabriel's feet, causing a ring of fire to erupt around the Trickster._

Fuck. Didn't see that one coming.

_"Maybe you've always been an angel."_

_Gabriel had expected them to simply confront him, but no way had he included their stash of Holy Oil into the equation. He was at their mercy and that made him nervous. "A what? Somebody slip a mickey in your power shake, kid?"_

_"I'll tell you what. You just jump out of the Holy Fire and we'll call it our mistake." Dean was incredibly sure in his diagnosis._

_The Trickster let out a breezily laugh before he sobered and brought them back to reality in a burst of static. He was busted._

_The angel applauded them. "Well played, boys. Well played. Where'd you get the Holy Oil?"_

_"Well, you might say we pulled it out of Sam's ass." Sam glared at Dean._

_"Where'd I screw up?"_ I didn't.

_"You didn't." Sam answered._ Knew it. _"Nobody gets the jump on Cas like you did."_

_Dean threw in his two cents. "Mostly it was the way you talked about Armageddon."_

_"Meaning?"_ Meaning they picked up on everything I meant for them to. Success.

_"Well, call it personal experience, but nobody gets that angry unless they're talking about their own family."_ Dean, you have no idea.

_Sam furthered the questioning. "So which one are you? Grumpy, Sneezy or Douchey?"_

_Time for the big reveal... "Gabriel, okay? They call me Gabriel."_

_Gabriel inwardly smirked at their surprise. Obviously they had thought he was nobody. "Gabriel?" Sam accused. "The archangel?"_

_"Guilty."_

_"Okay, Gabriel." Dean tasted the name. "How does an archangel become a trickster." The archangel was proud of himself. "My own private witness protection. I skipped out of Heaven, had a face transplant, carved out my own little corner of the world."_ It was the best thing I've ever done. _"Till you two screwed it all up."_

The older hunter didn't understand. "What did Daddy say when you ran off and joined the pagans?"

_"Daddy doesn't say anything about anything."_ Unless it's me, of course.

_"Then what happened?" Sam questioned. "Why'd you ditch?"_

_His brother answered instead. "Do you blame him? I mean, his brothers are heavyweight douchenozzles."_

_"Shut your cakehole." Gabriel may not have had much to do with them in years, but they were still his family. "You don’t know anything about my family. I love my father, my brothers. Love them. But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats? I couldn't bear it! Okay? So I left. And now it's happening all over again."_

_"Then help us stop it." Sam requested._

_The response was frustrated. "It can't be stopped."_

_"You wanna see the end of the world?"_

_"I want it to be over!" Gabriel wasn't acting anymore. "I have to sit back and watch my own brothers kill each other thanks to you two! Heaven, Hell, I don't care who wins! I just want it to be over."_

_"It doesn't have to be like that. There has to be some way to," Sam stuttered over the words. "To pull the plug."_

_Gabriel laughed sardonically. "You do not know my family. What you guys call the apocalypse, I used to call Sunday dinner. That's why there's no stopping this, because this isn't about a war. It's about two brothers that loved each other and betrayed each other. You'd think you'd be able to relate."_

_Sam's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"_

_"You sorry sons of bitches. Why do you think you two are the vessels? Think about it. Michael, the big brother, loyal to an absent father, and Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy's plan." Gabriel raised his voice. "You were born to this, boys! It's your destiny! It was always you! As it is in Heaven, so it must be on Earth. One brother has to kill the other."_

_“What the hell are you saying?” Dean prompted._

_“Why do you think I’ve always taken such an interest in you? Because from the moment Dad flipped on the lights around here, we knew it was all gonna end with you. Always.”_

_There was a pregnant pause as Sam and Dean examined the dirty floor of the warehouse and then each other._

  
_"No. That's not gonna happen." Dean was decisive._ That's what I wanna hear!

_Gabriel's mouth was set in a grim line. "I'm sorry, but it is." He sighed before continuing. "Guys, I wish this were a TV show. Easy answers, endings wrapped up in a bow... but this is real and it's going to end bloody for all of us. That's just how it's gonna be."_

_The hunters and the archangel were at a standoff. "So, boys. Now what? We stare at each other for the rest of eternity?"_

_Dean straightened up. "Well, first of all, you're gonna bring Cas back from wherever you stashed him."_

_The angel didn't like being told what to do. "Oh am I?"_

_"Yeah, or we're going to dunk you in some Holy Oil and deep-fry ourselves an archangel." Dean was bluffing, Gabriel was sure of it, but he brought Castiel back nonetheless. "Cas, you okay?"_

_"I'm fine." Cas turned his attention to Gabriel and greeted him icily. "Hello, Gabriel."_

_"Hey, bro." The higher ranked angel was peppy again. "How's the search for Daddy going? Let me guess. Awful."_

_Castiel only awarded him with a glare._

_Dean gathered himself and prepared to go. "Okay, we're out of here. Come on, Sam."_

_"Uh. Okay. Guys?" Sam followed Dean towards the exit. "So, so what? Huh?" Gabriel's brother trailed the hunters. "You're just gonna... you're gonna leave me here forever?"_ It doesn't matter. I'd get out as soon as they left anyway.

_Dean paused at the door and turned back to face the archangel. "No. We're not, 'cause we don't screw with people the way you do. And for the record? This isn't about some prize fight between your brothers or some destiny that can't be stopped. This is about you being too afraid to stand up to your family."_

No. It's because I can't have them finding out about Courtney and Emily.

_As the hunter pulled the fire alarm, Gabriel looked up to see the sprinklers go off, soaking him and the flames._

_"Don't say I never did anything for you." Gabriel sent Dean a death glare as Team Free Will trooped out of the door._

_When he was positive that the pains in the necks had left, he strolled over to the wall and turned off the sprinklers. Gabriel looked up to the rafters and called out, "Okay, down you get. Just be careful because it's slippery." He leaned against the wall and muttered under his breath, "He didn't have to be so dramatic and pull the freaking fire alarm."_

_Courtney and Emily climbed their way down to the floor and sidled up next to their father. Courtney grinned at him. "Didn’t expect the fire, did we?"_

_Gabriel scowled. "No. Now, come on. We better pack up and leave."_

_They strode out of the warehouse together and Emily beamed. "Don't worry, Daddy. We would have rescued you."_

_\---_

"So there you have it, your Gabriel moments decoded." Emily spread her arms wide and gestured grandly.

Courtney rolled her eyes at her sister's histrionics. _What a drama queen_. "You do know that Emily was the one who came up with TV Land?"

_"She did?"_ The girl blushed as the Winchesters looked at her incredulously.

Abashed, Emily peered up from under her lashes. "I may or may not have let slip to Daddy that we had a thing for hot guys on TV and that you would make perfect leads."

Dean let the comment go straight to his head before Courtney tacked onto the end of the sentence. "Then he decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to teach you his lesson."

Emily muttered under her breath with her English intonation. "I swear, the old man and his blimmin' lessons. I never got why he becomes the janitor instead of a damn teacher."

"He was an ad space salesman once, remember?" Courtney piped up, but regretted it straight away.

The eldest teen sobered and turned to face Dean. "I am sorry about that, you know? It's all my fault. If I hadn't argued with my father, Courtney wouldn't have stood up for me and-"

"I get it. Nothing's more important than family." Dean grabbed Emily's hand and looked to his brother who was studying Courtney's face.

"It's not your fault either, Courtney. You were just standing up for your sister." Sam pulled Courtney to his side and tilted her chin so he could look directly into her deep brown orbs. "I can see your guilt in your eyes. You were right to stand up to your father, especially when it's for your sibling. I know that and he knew that."

Dean cupped the side of Emily's face and she looked away bashfully. "If what happened to us is what happens when you just want to see your relatives, the ones you love, then I don't want to be around you or your father if someone's life is in jeopardy. Your loyal tenacity only gets stronger in times of need and protecting and saving lives brings out the best in people. I know that I sure as hell would run in fear.

"Just looking at you and your sister, I can see the fierce relationship that you have and it rivals my own with Sammy over there. I can't wait to see the bond between the two of you and your father, just as long as he doesn't kick my ass for being in the same room as you." With that, Dean pulled the younger girl into a tender embrace and dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead.

A muffled laugh made Dean pull back and Emily used the space to talk. "You know what, Dean? If you keep this up, you're going to destroy your bad boy image."

Everyone chuckled at Dean's expense. "Well, you just happen to bring out a soft spot in me."

Dean's rare emotional moment was interrupted by a trench coat swathed angel jumping out of his seat.

"I've found him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet! Score!
> 
> I really wanted to go over Gabriel's motives each time he was on the show and thus this chapter was born.


	8. Chapter 8

The whole group startled as Castiel launched himself out of his chair in the corner. When he had declared that he had in fact located Gabriel he disappeared instantaneously, unlike in the movies where they have a cheesy bright light and slow fade out effect.

It took a few moments for the news to sink in and when it did, Courtney and Emily were ecstatic. Jumping up and down, the girls latched onto each other with tears pooling in their eyes. After so long of being stuck in an unfamiliar town with no one but their twin for company, comfort and support, their father was finally coming back.

Courtney stilled her sister and gripped her shoulders. "Daddy's coming home!"

Typically, Emily would have rolled her eyes and let loose a sarcastic ribbing, but she was too overjoyed to resort to her normal personality. Instead she embraced her sister for all she was worth.

Sam and Dean understood the two girls perfectly. When they were younger, they would be relegated to shady motel rooms for weeks on end as their father continued his vengeful hunt of the supernatural. This had left the boys with a shabby upbringing, but had forged their impervious bond. They knew that while these young women hadn't been left to their own devices throughout their whole lives, they still had a relationship that was unshakable.

Courtney and Emily were starting to giggle and bounce around like they were hyped up on energy drinks and Skittles, much to the Winchesters' amusement, when Castiel and Gabriel blinked into existence. Gabriel watched his oblivious daughters for a few seconds before announcing his arrival in his mirthful voice.

"Hey girls, miss me?"

Everyone could see the girls stiffen in surprise before spinning to face their father. Courtney and Emily rushed at their father and Gabriel was more than happy to gather them in his arms. To Dean, the scene was emotional, if not a bit comical from his point of view. He knew that he shouldn't laugh at a time like this and he barely swallowed his chuckles as he cast an eye over the family. While Courtney was pressed comfortably up to her father's chest, Emily was close to clearing six feet and thus towered over her midget father.

The teenagers' muffled sobs soon began to taper off and the atmosphere began to thicken with tension. Gabriel rubbed his daughters' backs one last time before releasing them, though they didn't move too far away. Emily directed her father and sister toward Dean's bed and while they settled into the surprisingly plush mattress, she folded herself on the floor at the foot of the bed. The Winchesters followed their lead and seated themselves on Sam's bed while Castiel stood stoically next to the pale green wall.

A few moments of awkward silence saturated the air before Gabriel shattered it with a slight clearing of his throat. "What the hell has been going on? I'm away for a few weeks and I turn around to see Castiel of all people hunting my ass down. He spouts some gibberish about my daughters needing me and poof!" Gabriel flailed his fingers. "I pop into a shoddy motel room to not only find my girls, but the Winchesters as well." Gabriel leveled a glare at the boys sitting across from him. "Start explaining. Now."

The two hunters glanced at each other, silently conversing – arguing – over who got to be the lucky one to inform the overprotective father about Lucifer. Courtney took pity on the Winchesters and spoke up for them.

Taking a deep breath, Courtney didn't sugar coat anything. "Lucifer is here in Geraldton. Teaching at our high school to be exact."

Gabriel exploded. "What?!"

Courtney winced. _Maybe I should have sprinkled on some sugar…_

Spinning around on the floor, Emily placed a calming hand on her father's knee. "Daddy, chill. Just wait until we've explained everything before you blow your lid, 'mkay?"

Though the condescending tone of his daughter would earn a death glare from any other parent, Gabriel found it reassuring that nothing overly dramatic had changed. If Emily could maintain her light-heartedness, they could get past whatever it was that Lucifer was up to.

Taking turns, Emily and Courtney told their father everything they knew in respect to Lucifer with the Winchesters throwing in their two cents worth every now and then. Once Gabriel was up to speed and knew as much as everyone else in the room, he squeezed his girls' shoulders lovingly. "Nobody's going to touch my girls."

Courtney looked over at the boys on the other bed and then turned to address Gabriel. "If Dean, Sam and Castiel didn't show up when they did, we never would have been able to get you back in time before Lucifer did something terrible."

Gabriel's gazed locked on the Winchesters and they could see in his eyes that he truly was grateful. His look turned contemplative for a second, however, and turned his attention to the window that overlooked the motel's car park. "Where's your car?"

A puzzled look was all the archangel got as Dean cautiously strolled over to the window. His gaze picked over the parked cars twice before he started to splutter. "Wh-what?" Parked outside their motel room where their rental car once sat was the Impala, as impressive as ever.

The archangel's shoulder rose in nonchalance. "A thank you gift, but don't get used to it."

While Dean tried in vain to locate his tongue again – he could have sworn the cat next door did _not_ steal it – Sam turned to face Gabriel. "Since when were you such a nice guy? You were always such an evil jerk."

A smirk stretched its way languorously across Gabriel's lips. "I still am, don't you go forgetting that. I just thought you deserved a token of my appreciation for looking after my daughters. Plus, I knew that Dean was dying inside without his car to wank over." Emily, taking a leaf from her sister's book, jammed an elbow into her dad's ribs as she clambered onto the bed and muttered an indignant "Dad!" as Dean flushed red, with embarrassment or anger he didn't know.

In an attempt to steer the conversation back onto the Yellow Brick Road, Dean rolled his shoulders. "Why didn't we know about your daughters?"

Sighing, Gabriel rubbed a hand over his face. "If anyone found out about the girls, they would want to hurt them..." His hands trembled slightly in anger before he continued. "It seems that all of my hard work was for nothing though, seeing as Lucifer found out about them somehow."

As soon as he said the words, Gabriel had a girl hanging off either side of him. Courtney and Emily made sure that they reassured their father, letting him know that they believed that he had done everything in his power and Lucifer would have found them anyway.

Gabriel let go of the embrace and promised them, saying, "I won't rest until you're safe again."

After another hug, the girls finally released their father who stood up and walked to the window. Noticing the swollen sun that was beginning to be swallowed by the ocean, he turned back to address the room. "We should be getting home; it's getting late."

Dean pulled his gaze away from the taller twin still perched on the bed and coughed awkwardly. "Uh, yeah. That's probably a good idea." After running a hand through his hair, he turned his attention to Gabriel. "Sam, Cas and I will work on figuring out what Lucifer meant with the information that the girls gave to us."

Courtney and Emily offered up awkward goodbyes to the Winchesters as they were ushered out of the room by their dad. Gabriel clicked his fingers and turned Emily's black Lexus LFA into a red Lexus IS 250 C, sticking to his daughter's current favourite badge. Emily rushed for the driver's seat while Gabriel called shot gun, leaving Courtney to scowl and crawl into the backseat.

The mismatched family pulled away from the motel, still bubbling with emotions too powerful to simply stash away. Silence ran rampant through the minutes that ticked by as they drove through the slowly fading light and each one of them tried to straighten out their tangled thoughts. Eventually sleek black tires rolled up an expensive driveway and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Home.

Emily slammed her door shut as gently as she could before skipping up the two front steps. Groping blindly at the door with the set of keys in her hand, she managed to unlock the house and step into the foyer. Courtney and Gabriel trailed in after her and lounged wearily in the shadows for a few moments. With a huff of air, the archangel flicked the light switch and illuminated the room with a warm yellow glow.

"Well, girls, it seems as if today has been a very long day for everyone." He ran a hand through the mop of hair that donned his head. "I'm still fuzzy on a few things, but how about we all just go straight to bed. Some sleep and the light of a new day might help us out a bit."

Once weary nods of consent were given from the two young women, the three of them mounted the stairs for their rooms and the privacy of hot showers.

The fresh steam that permeated Courtney's bathroom helped freshen up her mind a little as she rubbed a damp cloth over her face. Eager for a few hours of sleepy solitude in the Bahamas or somewhere else far away from this whole new cornucopia of issues, the brunette staggered into her room and toppled onto the bed. After tossing and turning for a few minutes under her icy sheets she gave up, flinging the covers from the bed.

Tiptoeing down the corridors so as not to wake anyone if they were already asleep, Courtney soundlessly eased open the door to her sister's room and sneaked up to the lush looking bed.

"Emily?" Courtney prodded the covers gently.

The sound of snuffling worked its way out of the cocoon of blankets that occupied the mattress. Frowning, Courtney jabbed at the mass a little harder. "Emily..."

"What?" The heap grunted.

"I can't sleep alone tonight." The smaller girl wrung her hands and stared at where she assumed her sister's head to be.

The corner of the doona somehow forced its way out of the tangle of other sheets. "Get in."

Courtney clambered into the bed, but five minutes later saw Emily grumbling. "Nope, this isn't working for me." Turning to face her bedfellow, she asked, "Is this working for you?"

Looking around, Courtney shook her head. "No, it still feels empty."

The taller girl rolled herself over the edge of the bed and landed with a small thud on the carpet. A flailing hand appeared over the edge and fumbled around until it came upon her sister's. Tugging both herself and Courtney up, she manoeuvred the two of them over to the door. "Come on; let's see if we can actually sneak up on Dad for once."

Tired feet shuffled along the hall runner, muffling their approach. As they neared their father's door the girls shared a small smile and both grasped the brass door handle. Aligning their fingers in the only way that stopped the knob from squeaking and signalling their entrance, they carefully pressed the heavy wood door open and slipped inside.

In the dim lighting, they could see the breathing lump of their father under the bedspreads that smothered his mattress. Creeping up next to the bed was the easy part with the soft shag carpets cushioning their steps and they could almost taste their small victory in the air. However, their plan of stealth came to an abrupt end when Emily stumbled over the step of the bed's elevated platform. "Fuck," Emily cursed under her breath and straightened herself, trying to resurrect the façade of being ninjas.

A soft chuckle emanated from Gabriel. "Nice try, Emily."

The girl scowled and flopped down onto the bed, indignant. "Why do you think it was me and not Courtney?"

"Because you're the one that has all the finesse of an elephant." The laughter in his voice was appallingly unconcealed.

Courtney giggled and walked around to the right side of the bed. "He has got a point."

Emily turned her back and buried her head in a pillow, stealing the majority of the blankets. Courtney and Gabriel shared a look that only long suffering family members could muster and the mirth glittered in their eyes. She was so much fun to torment. Wrapping his arm around Emily, Gabriel pulled her closer and grumbled in her ear. "Thank you for asking to crash in my bed. Your manners are in impeccable form as always."

In reply, Emily only squashed her face further into the down pillow and grunted. Giggling once again at her sister, Courtney settled herself down on her father's left. "Thank you, Daddy."

Snuggling both of his girls closer, he began to hum a soft tune under his breath and in a matter of moments, they all drifted off to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

 

Courtney clawed her way out from under limbs and a mountain of blankets to stretch. Spreading her arms as she yawned, her fist collided with Emily’s temple.

“Wha- fuck?” She reached up to rub the sleep out of her eyes. “You bitch.”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Courtney hurried to placate Emily, who was notoriously _not_ a morning person.

Emily grumbled to herself, “You better be,” before rolling over and squashing her sister. The two began squirming as they wrestled for control of the blankets.

Green eyes blinked open on the undisturbed right side of the bed and watched the scene unfold. The archangel glanced over at the clock and began counting down the seconds.

_Five, four, three, two, one-_

_Thunk._ The twins toppled over the edge of the bed and landed hard on the wooden boards below.

“Ge-off me.”

Gabriel chuckled at the sounds of Courtney struggling to escape the weight of her sister. Every single time they shared a bed it always ended in an uncomfortable pile of thrashing limbs on the floor and yet Courtney never learnt that she was just too small to take on Emily properly. Though, to give credit where credit is due, she did put up one hell of a fight.

The taller girl pinned the other to the bed post and crowed in victory. “I am the champion, my friends.” Emily’s early morning voice cracked as she tried to sing. “Now I demand recompense from the loser of our mighty battle. French toast this morning, Germany.”

“Fine.” Courtney grumbled and pushed her off.

That was something Gabriel had never understood about Emily. She always groaned about how much she reviled the wars and flat out refused to take Modern History, but then she would reference some World War factoid and do a complete one-eighty. He guessed it was just a part of her irritating charm – lines about the Treaty of Versailles and all.

The girls started shuffling out of the room, Emily still preening over her win and Courtney trying to shove her into the wall. Gabriel took that as his cue and rolled himself out of bed, eager to join them in the kitchen for a cup of coffee and some of Courtney’s famous French toast.

\--

After everyone felt more human, relatively speaking, than zombie and Courtney had spent her usual two hours in the shower, the ‘Lichtenbergs’ filed out the front door and into their car of the day.

“What will it be girls?”

“Ferrari, you know the one.” Emily bounced on the spot before adding, “And throw a little hot-rod red in there.”

Gabriel waved his hand – he got over clicking about a year ago – and the sports car flashed into existence. “Good choice. It feels like a Ferrari kind of day today.”

Together they squeezed into the fine example of engineering and purred their way to school.

Climbing out of the car and disguising it as a more common model, the girls shouldered their bags. Courtney eyed her dad critically and shuddered.

“Do you have to wear that awful uniform?” She reached out to touch it, but pulled back fearful that the toxic fabric would poison her. “You can wear normal clothes here.”

Their father frowned. “But I’m a janitor.”

Emily rolled her eyes and turned for the school. “Ugh, we are not having this conversation again. Dad, we’re in Australia; they’re called cleaners here. Courtney, dad is supposed to be a millionaire lotto winner who works just because he can. He’s expected to be eccentric. But seriously, dad, that uniform is horrid. Courtney and I are going to set fire to it at one point. Everyone happy now?” She nodded to herself. “Good, let’s go.”

Gabriel and Courtney watched her walk off through the school’s gates.

Leaning over, Gabriel whispered to his daughter. “Is she in a hurry to see a boyfriend I don’t know about?”

Courtney shook her head. “Nope, I think she just wants the day to go faster.”

“Don’t we all.”

\--

The day passed in a monotonous blur. English, Ancient History, Mathematics, Study and French couldn’t hold the girls’ interest at any point, even though they were starting on Norse mythology (the girls knew Loki personally, obviously). The worst thing about the twins when they were either bored or unfocussed was that they took a turn towards the extreme. Personalities magnified tenfold, Courtney faded out and drifted off into a fantasy land ignoring everything that came out of the teachers’ mouths and daydreamed of a normal life away from Satan. Emily on the other hand became belligerent and standoffish, determined to make her teachers’ lives as hellish as hers had become recently. Typical snark became more hard hitting and frequent. More often than not she was instructed to ‘ _keep quiet or get out.’_

Lunchtime was a welcome reprieve for everyone involved and the girls camped out with their friends in their usual spot. The controlled chaos that somehow managed to stay within the confines of their group was enough to keep neighbouring circles those few extra feet away, creating a bubble of noisy space.

Courtney and Emily’s eclectic friends each had their own charm; Louisa had a manic laugh that set everyone else off, Chloe’s brashness was a breath of fresh air and Peter’s addiction to _Doctor Who_ was kind of scary.

Fun and games distracted the girls all through the lunch break, but the stark reality hit them as soon as the bell rang. Their final lesson of the day was finally upon them and they would learn whether or not Lucifer would kill them on sight.

\--

“Well, that was lame.”

Courtney eyeballed her twin. “I think you forgot to mention _scary._ ”

“Nah,” she snorted. “He grinned at us, whoopdi doo. I would have been scared if he sat at his desk sharpening knives.”

Her annoyance flared and she jabbed her elbow in Emily’s ribs. Again. “We’ve still got to tell dad that Lucifer definitely has us pegged.”

“Dibs not.” Emily smirked. “He’s less likely to turn into the Hulk if you tell him.”

Courtney shook her head. “He’s going to be pissed either way.”

The car rolled up to the mansion and the girls tumbled out onto the driveway. Gabriel worked well after school finished and as such, the two of them drove home by themselves. Today though, it appeared as if Gabriel had knocked off early.

The archangel blinked into existence in the doorway and Courtney nearly shot through the roof. “Jeez, dad, watch the landing space. One of these days you’re either going to land right on top of us or in the middle of a wall.”

Gabriel waved off the accusation. “I have a perfect sense of direction.”

“Well,” Emily clapped her hands. “We all have homework to do, so if you don’t mind…”

Her father’s arm darted out in front of her and prevented her sidestep. “Not so fast.” Emily blinked at him owlishly. “How was school?”

“Same old, same old.” She giggled nervously.

He dropped his arm and rolled his hand in a prompting gesture. “And?”

Courtney flicked a look at her jumpy sister and sighed. “And Lucifer kept grinning at us. Nothing dangerous, just creepy.”

Gabriel swore. “That bastard. Are you sure we shouldn’t leave? It’s dangerous here.”

Shaking her head, Emily replied, “There’s no point. He definitely knows who we are now and even if we did leave, he would just follow us wherever we go.” Courtney nodded in agreement.

"We could try." Their father desperately reached for a solution. "Some of the heavy duty tomes I have in the basement might have some wards or a 'fuck-off-Lucifer-you-prick' sigil."

Courtney’s lips quirked in a sad suggestion of a smile as she headed into the kitchen. “You know that won’t work. It’s like he’s Voldemort and we’re Harry, Ron and Hermione.”

“I get to be Hermione,” Emily interjected softly as she followed.

“Stop interrupting my analogies.” Courtney smacked her softly on the forearm. “Voldemort just keeps coming after Harry again and again until after seven books it all ends a behemoth of a battle at Hogwarts and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wait a whole seven books and eight movies for this to be over.”

Emily nodded her agreement and the two girls stared at their father as he flopped down on a chair at the breakfast table. “And we’re already set up here. We know the town; hell, the Winchesters have even rocked up on our doorstep. I don’t think there’s any place better for us to be.”

“I don’t want any of you having to do some almighty Harry Potter battle or fighting of any sort against Lucifer.” His face was weary. “You have no idea what it was like when he rebelled, you didn’t see the sheer power he wielded. I may be an archangel, but Lucifer? He’s always been something more.”

Pressing her palms to the smooth wood of the table, Courtney leaned forward and looked the archangel in the eye. “We know, dad, but we have to face the facts. The ball’s already started rolling, we just need to try and not be crushed by it.”

He dropped his face into his palms. "You know what?" He rubbed his face heavily before steepling his fingers at his lips. "I can't - You girls stay here, I just need to go cool off. You’re right of course; I need to think things through is all."

Gabriel stood up and headed for the front door. Emily squeezed his hand as he walked by. "Be careful, okay?"

He squeezed back before dropping a kiss on both his girls' foreheads. "I will. Don't leave the house."

The front door clicked shut softly and the engine roared in the driveway.

Courtney flopped down on the chair her father had just vacated while Emily opened the fridge door, scouring the shelves for anything worthwhile. She grabbed a punnet of raspberries and turned back to her sister. "Wanna call the Winchesters over?"

“You think we should?”

“Might as well.” The taller of the two picked up the phone on the bench and tossed it to Courtney. “You dial. I’m going to get changed.” Emily and the raspberries went up the stairs.

The sound of the number keys were deafening in the kitchen. _Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep-beep._

The dial tone rang and rang before Sam finally picked up. _“Hello?"_

“Sam, it’s Courtney.”

 _“Oh, Courtney.”_ Recognition coloured his voice. _“I’m sorry; my caller ID didn’t recognise this number. How are you? Is everything okay?”_

Courtney shook her head. “Um, yeah. Everything’s fine. Dad just left so I was wondering if you and Dean wanted to come over.” The wording sounded wrong in her ears. “To keep us company, of course. You know, with all that’s going on with Lucifer and everything.”

 _“Sure, sure.”_ Sam’s voice was pleasantly eager.

“Great, that’s great. I’ll text you the directions, okay?”

_“Yeah, that’d be awesome.”_

“So, I’ll see you shortly?”

_“See you then.”_

The awkwardness turned her cheeks red. “Bye.” She jammed her finger on the end call button before she could fluster herself more. Courtney rested her cheek on the cool table top before texting Sam the directions and headed upstairs to get changed herself.

_\--_

Twenty minutes later heralded the poignant resonance of the doorbell. Emily fluffed her hair up in the mirror once more before leaving her room. “I’ll get it,” she called to her sister.

Courtney tore past her down the corridor. “Over my dead body you will.”

“If that’s how you want to play it.”

The two sisters raced through the mansion, sliding around corners and nearly breaking their necks on the staircase. Courtney slid to a stop in front of the door and poked her tongue at her sister, “You suck.”

Emily flipped her the bird. “Fine, servant, I shall await my guests in the lounge room.”

“Yes, your majesty.” She bowed deeply before her sister and then turned her attention to the door. Unlocking the door, she swung it open to reveal the two brothers that towered over her. “Hi there.”

“Hey squirt.” Dean reached out to ruffle her hair. “How you going?”

She dodged the hand. “Don’t call me that; just because you’re giants. I mean, what do you guys even eat?”

“Pie, of course. We’ll have to get you some.” Dean smirked at the young woman.

“Ha. Ha. You’re so funny,” Courtney deadpanned. “Get in here.”

The men followed Courtney inside, shutting the door behind them. Once they saw the interior, Sam whistled. “Well, this place is a bit extravagant, don’t you think?”

She shrugged. “Not really. It just feels like home to us.”

Sam nodded and looked around at the décor some more while Dean tried to peer down the hallways. “So where’s your eviller half?”

“In the lounge with her royal harem.”

The brothers frowned. Courtney waved them off. “Don’t ask.”

The youngest twin led the two men into the lounge room where Emily was sprawled across an entire sofa, feet up on the back and hand draped across the carpet.

“Hello boys. Did you miss me?”

Dean clears his throat and smirks. “Did I miss you continual chatter? No.”

A pillow was lobbed at Dean’s head who ducked it smoothly. “You are a liar Mr Winchester. Now sit down before you fall down. That jetlag has done you no favours.”

“Yes ma’am.”

As instructed, the Winchesters and Courtney camped out on the numerous sofas. Courtney flopped over the loveseat and wedged her toes between the cushions, Sam settled himself in an overly cushy armchair and to be a pain, Dean pushed Emily’s feet off the back of the sofa and draped his own up there.

“That was my spot, jerk.” Emily grumbled as she grabbed the remote off a coffee table. “Now, let’s have a vote, _Star Trek_ or _Doctor Who_?”

“ _’Trek_.”

“Neither.”

 _“Spongebob_.”

Emily glowered at the others in the room as she flipped the channel to _Star Trek._ “Okay, Courtney? You are a dickhead; no one over the age of 12 admits to watching _Spongebob._ ” She shook her head. “Sam, you really need to get cultured and a law degree does not count.”

“What about me?”

She held up a hand for a high-five. “You, my man, are awesome.”

Dean crowed in victory and dove towards her, pinning her to the cushions. “Come here you.” His arms gathered her in a giant bear hug. “There is finally someone who appreciates the classics. I think I may actually cry.” He looked over his shoulder at Sam. “Hey Sammy, that’s usually your shtick. You must keep tissues on you somewhere.”

“Bite me.” Sam’s unimpressed look was out in full force. _The bitchface is strong in this one,_ Emily cackled to herself. “Get off the girl, shut up and watch your show.”

\--

After twenty seven minutes – yes, Emily kept a running countdown, she’d seen _Amok Time_ a million times before anyway – the uncultured masses began to stir. _And a ready, set, g-_

“Ah, Courtney?” Sam fidgeted in his spot. _Bingo._

The small girl hummed. “Yeah?”

“Can I – uh – talk to you in private for a second?”

“Sure.” Courtney scooted herself off her loveseat and headed for the concertina doors that opened out onto the patio with Sam trailing behind her.

The two stood outside in companionable silence until Sam fidgeted and started rubbing the back of his neck.

“What’s wrong?” Courtney touched his forearm in concern.

“Um, nothing.” He didn’t meet her gaze. “Nothing at all.”

She cocked her head. “You sure?”

“Actually… What are you going to do this weekend?”

The young woman paused to think over her schedule. “Nothing. I’ve got a bit of homework, but that’ll be done in no time.”

“That’s great.” Sam mustered his courage and stepped closer to her. “You see, I was wondering if you would want to go out and see a movie or something with me. You know, to have a break from things. You don’t have to or anything –“

Courtney cut him off. “Yes, I’ll go see a movie with you.”

\--

Emily scratched her head as she watched them go. “What was that all about?”

“I’m pretty sure Courtney will tell you all about it later.” The smug look on Dean’s face made her itch.

“Right.” She sighed.

The silence was suffocating. “So, you like cars?”

“Damn straight.” Finally, a topic. “Did you _see_ that sweet ride outside?”

 “Yeah, it sure is. I have more respect for the classics though.” He tipped his head towards the screen. “And not just classic cars.”

Emily nodded. “Yeah, I really like classic sci-fi shows. It’s interesting to see where all the modern stuff came from, you know? As for the cars, I gathered that from the muscle car out the front.” She paused to consider her next point. “I have to admit though; I’ve always had a crush on the Impala. She’s sleek, she’s gorgeous…” She trailed off.

“A crush, hey?” Dean’s smirk was sinful. “Happen to have any more of those?”

She screwed up her nose in mockery. “Funny, you know–“

Emily was cut off by Sam and Courtney walking back into the room with dopey grins on their face.

“An F430? Nice taste. What’s the specs?” _Thank you,_ thank you _God for Dean’s improv skills._

Courtney groaned as she weaved around the coffee table. “Don’t get her started; if you do she’ll never stop.”

“Ha – fucking – ha, midget.” The flying pillow made a return but was sadly dodged again. “Man, I really need to get a better heat seeking system for my cushions.”

“You do that.” A car door slammed outside. “ _Aand_ that would be your cue boys. Daddy’s home.”

Courtney and Sam seemed to glow with excitement as they started for the front door while Dean lingered on the lounge and winked at Emily. “You know that conversation we had about your affection for the Impala, Emily? It seems Courtney’s getting a head start on hers.” He stood up. “You never know, I might let you take her for a spin.”

“You–“

“Hurry up, Dean, move your ass. Let’s go.” The two dawdlers caught up to the others just as Gabriel came through the door.

“Girls, boys.” He nodded at each set before glaring at the Winchesters. “Didn’t get up to any mischief while I was gone, did you?

Sam held up his hands. “No, and we were just leaving.”

Gabriel nodded. “Good. We’ll see you guys later then.”

The men left and the girls’ father turned to them, raising a suspicious brow. They shook their heads vigorously, Courtney pointing to the lounge room. “We were just in there watching _Star Trek_ because Emily and Dean are a bunch of geeks.”

“Nothing wrong with being a geek, kiddo.” Gabriel reached out to ruffle Courtney’s hair. “Wanna come watch something else with me?”

They declined. “Nah, we gotta do our damn French homework,” Emily complained. “I swear, Ms Elliot is a slavedriver.”

Gabriel chuckled. “You’re not wrong. Okay then, I’ll call you two down for dinner later.”

“Bye dad.”

As soon as they reached the privacy of Courtney’s room, Emily turned on her. “You are going to spill everything, right now.”

The grin that lit up Courtney’s face was brilliant. “My God, you have no idea.”

\--

The soothing purr of the Impala’s engine was like a comfort blanket for the Winchesters as they navigated their way back to the motel.

Dean reached over and punched Sam in the shoulder. “See dude? I told you she’d accept.” He wrinkled his nose. “But still, she’s seventeen and you’re twenty four. Doesn’t that scream paedophile to you?”

Sam snorted. “Like you’re one to talk; who was the one pinning a seventeen year old to the sofa? And don’t forget you are another four years older than _me.”_

“I’m not the one going on a date with Emily.”

He pursed his lips. “So what did that last comment about ‘ _taking her for a spin’_ mean then?”

“You heard that?” Dean prayed that a certain archangel didn’t have superhearing.

“Dude, we were only on the other side of the doorway.” Bitchface #53.

He shook his head and focused on the road. “It meant absolutely nothing; no innuendo was intended at all. I was just letting her know she could take the Impala for a spin someday.”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say, man.” Sam raised his hands in a backing off gesture. After a while he continued. “Hey, can you hang out with Emily tomorrow? Seeing as I’m taking Courtney to the movies, I don’t think Emily’d want to be left home alone.”

Dean pulled the Impala to a stop in the motel car park. “Don’t sweat it; I’m sure we can find something to do.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn this chapter was a bitch to write, but I finally spat it out.


End file.
